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FOUNDED  BY  JOHN  D.  ROCKEFELLER 


THE  SOURCES  OF  TYNDALE'S  VER- 
SION OF  THE  PENTATEUCH 


A  DISSERTATION 

SUBMITTED  TO  THE  FACULTY    OF  THE   GRADUATE   DIVINITY 

SCHOOL    IN    CANDIDACY    FOR   THE     DEGREE 

OF    DOCTOR    OF    PHILOSOPHY 

(department   of   old   testament   LITERATURE   AND   INTERPRETATION) 


JOHN  ROTHWELL  SLATER 


CHICAGO 

THE  UNIVERSITY  OF  CHICAGO  PRESS 

1906 


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PRINCETON,  N.  J 


FOUNDED  BY  JOHN  D.  ROCKEFELLER 


THE  SOURCES  OF  TYNDALE'S  VER- 
SION OF  THE  PENTATEUCH 


A  DISSERTATION 

SUBMITTED  TO  THE  FACULTY    OF  THE   GRADUATE   DIVINITY 

SCHOOL    IN    CANDIDACY     FOR    THE     DEGREE 

OF    DOCTOR     OF    PHILOSOPHY 

(department    of    old    TESTAMENT    LITERATURE    AND    INTERPRETATION) 


BY  v^ 

JOHN  ROTHWELL  SLATER 


CHICAGO 

THE  UNIVERSITY  OF  CHICAGO  PRESS 

1906 


Copyright  1906,  By         ' 
The  University  of  Chicago 


Published  August,  1906 


Composed  and  Printed  By 

The  University  of  Chicago  Press 

Chicago,  Illinois,  U.  S.  A. 


THE  SOURCES   OF  TYNDALE'S  VERSION  OF  THE 
PENTATEUCH 

Among  the  heroes  and  martyrs  of  the  English  Reformation  none  is 
more  worthy  of  the  historian's  study  than  WilHam  Tyndale.  The  singular 
gaps  in  the  records  of  his  hfe,  which  have  contributed  to  the  popular 
neglect  of  Tyndale,  remind  one  of  the  similar  hiatus  in  our  knowledge  of 
Shakspere's  career;  the  more  because  these  two  sixteenth-century  leaders, 
diflferent  in  every  other  respect,  were  ahke  in  the  depth  of  the  impression 
they  made  on  the  English  language  at  a  critical  stage  of  its  development. 
It  is  known  to  scholars,  but  hardly  to  the  general  public,  that  the  English 
New  Testament  of  our  own  time  is  essentially  the  work  of  Tyndale.  A 
comparison  of  his  pioneer  version  with  the  later  sixteenth-century  trans- 
lations and  with  the  Authorized  Version  of  1611  shows  conclusively  that 
all  the  changes  and  improvements  from  Coverdale  down  to  the  American 
Revision  are  numerically  far  less  than  the  phrases  and  sentences  of  the 
exiled  scholar  of  the  Reformation  period.  As  one  begins  to  perceive  that 
our  rich  heritage  of  perfect  phrases  and  melodious  rhythm  in  the  English 
Testament  has  descended,  not  from  the  bishops  of  1611  or  of  1558,  but 
from  this  much-abused  martyr  of  King  Henry's  reign,  the  wonder  grows 
that  his  very  name  is  strange  to  the  ordinary  Bible  reader,  and  that  his 
romantic  history  is  all  but  forgotten.  No  4ess  intrepid  and  original  than 
his  great  predecessor  Wiclif,  he  Hved  at  a  time  when  the  new  learning 
made  possible  a  translation  from  the  original  tongues,  and  when  the 
Enghsh  language  had  become  more  flexible,  richer  in  synonyms,  and  better 
fitted  to  render  the  Hebrew  and  Hellenic  Greek  idioms  without  violence. 
No  less  aflame  with  indignation  against  the  abuses  of  the  priesthood  and 
the  wrongs  of  the  English  people  than  was  Wiclif,  he  entered  upon  his 
work  at  precisely  the  moment  when  the  long-smoldering  fires  of  reforma- 
tion wanted  but  a  spark  to  set  them  off  in  England,  as  they  had  been 
kindled  in  Germany  by  Luther's  attack  on  Tetzel.  It  was  Tyndale's 
Testament  more  than  Henry's  divorce  or  the  minor  ecclesiastical  reforms 
of  the  bishops  that  started  the  English  Reformation.  It  was  Tyndale's 
words  that  were  on  men's  lips  in  the  dark  days  that  followed;  Tyndale's 
matchless  rendering  of  the  gospels  that  the  martyrs  recited  in  their  dungeons 
and  at  the  stake;  Tyndale's  bold  doctrines  of  scriptural  interpretation 
that  saved  England  from  the  bibliolatry  of  German  Protestantism  after 

3 


4  TYNDALE  S    VERSION   OF   THE    PENTATEUCH 

Luther's  death.  Some  of  his  ideas  were  too  radical  for  the  age.  Modern 
writers  who  suggest,  as  if  for  the  first  time,  that  the  translator  of  Scripture 
should  avoid  words  of  ecclesiastical  connotation  foreign  to  the  original 
learn  with  surprise  and  admiration  that  Tyndale  substituted  "congrega- 
tion" for  "church,"  used  "love"  in  i  Corinthians,  chap.  13,  and  antici- 
pated other  modern  innovations  in  an  age  when  such  ideas  were  strange 
in  England. 

It  has  been  often  said  that  in  this  popularizing  of  the  Scripture,  as  in 
other  phases  of  his  work,  Tyndale  simply  copied  Luther.  We  shall  have 
to  consider  at  length  the  direct  and  the  indirect  obhgations  of  the  Enghsh 
to  the  German  reformer;  and  shall  find  large  elements  of  indebtedness 
which  none  would  have  been  freer  to  acknowledge  than  Tyndale  himself, 
had  the  question  been  put  to  him  by  his  friends  rather  than  by  his  enemies.^ 
But  this  may  be  said  at  the  very  outset,  that  to  charge  a  man  with  "copying 
Luther"  is  to  pay  him  a  unique  compliment,  for  a  more  original  and 
inimitable  person  never  lived  than  the  good  doctor  of  Wittenberg,  to 
match  whose  countless  whims  and  fancies  and  homely  German  idioms 
would  be  a  task  for  a  master-actor.  If  it  be  true,  that  Tyndale,  moved  by 
Luther's  spirit  and  aided  by  his  genius,  brought  the  gospel  to  the  people 
of  England  in  a  way  as  suited  to  the  English  situation  as  Luther's  was  to 
the  very  dififerent  state  of  affairs  in  Germany,  it  can  hardly  be  a  detraction 
from  his  merits  to  acknowledge  the  relation.  The  facts  have  long  been 
obscured  by  partisans,  who  have  sought  to  prove  either  that  Tyndale 
worked  absolutely  without  aid,  or  that  he  was  a  mere  camp-follower  of 
the  German  reformers.  Like  many  other  questions  touching  the  Reforma- 
tion in  England,  this  long-standing  controversy  over  Tyndale's  originahty 
has  been  entangled  in  ecclesiastical  side  issues  and  historical  mazes,  with 
which  the  modern  investigator  need  have  Httle  to  do.  A  study  of  the 
sources  is  much  more  profitable  than  a  fruitless  attempt  to  balance  the 
prejudiced  or  ignorant  opinions  of  superficial  historians. 

The  present  inquiry  is  devoted  to  a  neglected  phase  of  the  work  of 
Tyndale,  of  much  interest  to  the  Old  Testament  scholar,  and  not  without 
its  bearing  on  English  literary  history.  Having  published  his  version  of 
the  New  Testament,  and  several  doctrinal  treatises  to  be  mentioned  shortly, 
the  reformer  proceeded  to  begin  a  much  larger  enterprise,  which  unhappily 
he  never  completed — the  translation  of  the  Old  Testament.  The  Penta- 
teuch was  issued  in  1530.  It  is  a  rare  book,  of  which  only  a  few  copies 
exist,  and  never  reprinted  until  the  careful  and  admirable  edition  of  Dr. 

I  On  Tyndale's  indebtedness  to  Luther  see  Eadie,  The  English  Bible,  Vol.  I,  pp. 
143-46,  209-12;   Moulton,  The  History  of  the  English  Bible,  pp.  87,  88. 


TYNDALE'S    version   of   the    PENTATEUCH  5 

J.  I.  Mombert  appeared  in  1884.'  This,  the  first  English  version  from 
the  Old  Testament  since  the  fourteenth  century,  possesses  a  peculiar 
interest  for  all  students  of  the  English  Bible.  When  it  appeared,  the  study 
of  Hebrew  was  a  novelty  in  England,  the  first  chair  of  Hebrew  in  an  Eng- 
lish university  having  been  established  in  1524  at  Cambridge,^  in  the  year 
that  Tyndale  had  left  his  native  land  never  to  return.  On  the  continent 
scholars  had  been  studying  Hebrew,  with  the  aid  of  learned  Jews,  for  half 
a  century.  Hebrew  studies  flourished  in  Italy  and  Spain.  Johann 
Reuchlin,  Sebastian  Miinster,  and  others  had  cultivated  the  language  with 
zeal  and  genius  in  Germany,  and  in  several  of  the  German  universities 
great  advance  had  been  made  in  this  difficult  branch  of  philology.  But 
England  was  a  generation  behind  Germany  in  this,  as  she  has  since  been 
in  some  other  branches  of  sacred  learning,  and  Tyndale,  when  he  began 
his  task  of  rendering  the  Old  Testament  into  English,  had  no  native  prece- 
dents to  follow.  The  interesting  question  arises:  How  far  did  he  succeed 
in  his  aim  ?  To  what  extent  did  he  use  the  Hebrew  in  his  version  of  the 
Pentateuch  ?  Was  he,  as  his  detractors  have  declared,  a  mere  dabbler  in 
Semitic  grammar,  parading  his  etymologies  of  proper  names  to  hide  igno- 
rance of  the  language  itself,  and  depending  almost  entirely  on  the  Vulgate 
and  on  Luther  ?  Or  was  the  father  of  our  English  New  Testament  also 
the  father  of  English  Hebrew  scholarship,  who,  under  many  limitations, 
acquired  in  Germany  an  adequate  mastery  of  the  language,  and  made  his 
own  version  independently  and  with  scholarly  discrimination  ? 

That  this  is  no  trivial  or  academic  question  is  shown  by  two  facts: 
first,  that  Tyndale's  Pentateuch  is  essentially  our  own  Pentateuch  in 
style  and  substance,  and,  so  to  speak,  set  the  style  of  rendering  Hebrew 
prose  which,  as  carried  out  by  later  translators  in  the  remainder  of  the 
Old  Testament,  has  become  the  grand  style  for  religious  compositions  in 
English;  second,  that,  if  tradition  is  to  be  given  due  weight,  we  are  to 
attribute  to  Tyndale's  hand,  not  only  the  Pentateuch,  published  during 
his  lifetime,  but  the  historical  books  from  Joshua  through  Chronicles  as 
they  appeared  in  print  for  the  first  time  in  the  so-called  "Matthew's  Bible," 
edited  by  the  martyr  John  Rogers  in  1536,  and  adopted  by  Coverdale  a 
year  Iater.3     It  is  the  testimony  of  early  historians  that  Tyndale  left  these 

1  William  Tyndale's  Five  Books  oj  Moses  Called  the  Pentateuch.  (New  York: 
A.  D.  F.  Randolph,  1884.) 

2  Robert  Wakefield  was  the  first  incumbent.     See  Athenaum,  1885,  pp.  500  fif. 

3  See  Demaus,  Lije  oj  William  Tyndale,  p.  478;  Foxe,  Acts  and  Monuments, 
p.  1484;  Anderson,  Annals  oj  the  English  Bible,  p.  295.  Foxe's  reference  is  as  follows: 
"John  Rogers  brought  up  in  the  Universitie  of  Cambridge,  where  hee  profitably  trauelled 
in  good  learning,  at  the  length  was  chosen  and  called  by  the  Merchants  Aduenturers,  to 


6  TYNDALE  S   VERSION   OF  THE   PENTATEUCH' 

books  in  manuscript,  the  work  at  least  in  part  of  his  imprisonment,  and 
that  they  were  secretly  conveyed  to  Rogers  and  issued  by  him.  On  this 
hypothesis  we  owe  to  Tyndale  nearly  the  entire  historical  portion  of  the 
Old  Testament,  comprising  more  than  one-half  of  the  whole.  In  the 
absence  of  any  proof  of  this  tradition,  it  would  be  improper  to  base  any 
independent  argument  upon  these  books;  but  the  certainty  that  Tyndale 
carried  his  Hebrew  studies  beyond  the  Pentateuch,  and  pursued  them 
with  eagerness  up  to  the  very  end  of  his  life,  justifies  us  in  regarding  him 
as  more  than  a  mere  beginner  and  amateur  in  the  language. 

The  inquiry  is  the  more  interesting  because  it  has  been  neglected.  The 
historians  of  the  English  Bible,  devoting  large  space  to  Tyndale's  New 
Testament,  pass  over  his  Pentateuch  with  scanty  mention,  as  a  minor 
episode  in  his  career,  of  only  incidental  biographical  interest.  The  New 
Testament,  of  course,  lay  nearest  to  his  heart,  and  was  the  work  by  which 
his  influence  upon  the  course  of  events  in  England  was  chiefly  exerted. 
In  it  he  found  the  true  doctrine  of  salvation  with  which  he  sought  to  dis- 
place the  erroneous  teachings  of  the  church;  in  it  he  found  the  true  con- 
stitution of  the  church,  which  in  his  controversial  writings  he  set  over 
against  the  abuses  of  the  hierarchy,  the  "practice  of  prelates"  which  dis- 
graced Christendom.  But  Tyndale  held  broad  views  of  Scripture.  In 
his  thought  the  Bible  was  a  progressive  revelation,  no  part  of  which  could 
be  neglected  by  the  Christian  believer.  In  the  lives  of  the  patriarchs,  the 
story  of  the  exodus,  the  history  of  Israel,  he  saw  innumerable  parallels  to 
the  experiences  of  the  believer  and  to  the  progress  of  the  church ;  and  these 
depended  for  their  force,  not  on  any  allegorizing  interpretation  such  as 
captivated  many  of  the  later  reformers,  but  on  a  just  appreciation  of  the 
true  relation  between  sacred  and  modern  history.^  He  deprecated  all 
attempts  to  veil  the  historical  sense  of  the  Scripture  in  elaborate  mystical 
metaphor.  For  him,  as  for  Luther,  the  men  of  the  Bible  were  real  men, 
with  real  trials  and  defeats  and  victories  from  which  the  Christian  might 

be  their  Chaplaine  at  Antwerpe  in  Brabant,  whome  he  serued  to  their  good  contentation 
many  yeares.  It  chaunced  him  there  to  fal  in  company  with  that  worthy  seruant  and 
Martyr  of  God,  William  Tindall,  and  with  Miles  Couerdale  (which  both  for  the  hatred 
they  bare  to  papish  superstition  and  idolatry,  and  loue  to  true  religion,  had  forsaken 
their  native  country).  In  conferring  with  them  the  scriptures,  he  came  to  great  know- 
ledge in  the  Gospell  of  God,  in  so  much  that  he  cast  of  the  heauy  yoke  of  Popery,  per- 
ceiuyng  it  to  be  impure  and  filthy  Idolatry,  and  ioyned  himselfe  with  them  two  in  that 
paynefull  &  most  profitable  labour  of  translating  the  Bible  into  the  Englishe  tongue, 
which  is  intituled:  The  Translation  of  Thomas  Mathew." 

'  For  his  view  of  biblical  allegories  and  their  legitimate  exposition,  one  of  the 
pithiest  passages  in  his  writings,  see  the  Preface  to  Leviticus  (Mombert,  p.  294). 


TYNDALE's   version   of   the   PENTATEUCH  7 

learn  as  from  other  biography,  with  added  force  because  of  the  relation  of 
these  ancient  worthies  to  events  supreme  in  their  sacred  significance. 
The  marginal  notes  which  so  scandahzed  Sir  Thomas  More  and  Tyndale's 
other  enemies,  lacking,  as  they  sometimes  are,  in  good  taste,  as  when  he 
appends  to  the  inspired  text  sarcastic  flings  at  the  Pope  and  the  bishops, 
convey  to  the  modern  reader  a  sense  of  reality  and  candor.'  Here  was  a 
man  for  whom  the  Bible  was  a  Hving  book,  in  vital  touch  with  the  affairs 
of  distant  ages,  having  its  lessons  for  priest  and  plowman,  king  and  subject, 
master  and  servant,  saint  and  sinner.  As  contrasted  with  the  older  exe- 
getes  and  wath  the  post-Reformation  reactionary  school,  Tyndale  stands 
revealed  to  us  as  in  many  respects  a  modern  of  the  moderns  in  his  attitude 
toward  the  older  Scriptures. 

Holding  such  a  view  of  the  meaning  of  the  law  and  the  prophets  of 
Israel,  he  certainly  did  not  look  upon  his  arduous  task  of  translating  the 
Old  Testament  as  an  irksome  undertaking,  to  be  got  through  with  in  the 
easiest  way  possible,  merely  to  complete  his  version  of  the  Bible.  Rather 
did  he  regard  this  great  undertaking  as  the  crowning  achievement  of  his 
life,  and  gave  to  it  all  the  learning  and  enthusiasm  with  which  he  carried 
through  the  earher  works  of  his  exile.  When  the  news  came  to  him  at 
Vilvorde  that  his  days  were  numbered,  and  he  faced  death  with  his  task 
more  than  half  undone,  it  must  have  been  the  bitterest  disappointment  to 
him  to  know  that  the  matchless  poetry  of  the  Psalms,  the  pleadings  and 
warnings  and  promises  of  the  prophets,  must  be  rendered  by  other  hands 
than  his.  History  has  shown  that  his  successors  were  capable  of  carrving 
on  the  work  in  the  same  large  spirit  with  which  he  began  it,  faUing  naturally 
into  the  style  which  he  originated;  so  that  the  Enghsh  Old  Testament,  as 
we  have  it,  shows  no  break,  but  is  essentially  a  literary  unit.  But  the  fact 
that  the  men  who  gave  us  the  English  Psalms  and  Proverbs  and  Isaiah 
could  doubtless  have  translated  the  historical  books  as  well  as  Tyndale, 
had  his  version  never  been  begun,  should  not  lead  us  to  belittle  the  worth 
of  that  beginning,  nor  to  underrate  its  influence  on  the  subsequent  history 
of  our  Bible. 

We  shall  inquire,  first,  under  what  circumstances  Tyndale  gained  his 
knowledge  of  Hebrew;  second,  what  sources  he  used  in  his  version  of  the 
Pentateuch  and  to  what  extent  his  work  was  original;  third,  what  influence 
his  version  exerted  upon  later  translations  and  upon  English  literature. 
These  are  the  three  phases  of  the  subject  upon  which  there  has  been  most 
controversy  among  those  writers  who  have  dealt  with  the  matter  at  all, 
and  upon  which  no  agreement  has  been  reached.  The  uncertainty  which 
'  See  Demaus,  p.  238. 


8  TYNDALE's    version    of    the    PENTATEUCH 

still  prevails  is  due  in  part  to  scanty  evidence,  in  part  to  preconceived 
theories.' 

It  will  be  desirable,  before  considering  the  first  question,  to  introduce 
an  outline  of  Tyndale's  life,  to  serve  as  a  groundwork  for  chronological 
references.  The  sources  are  not  abundant.  Foxe's  account  in  the  Acts 
and  Monuments  is  the  basis  of  all  the  later  narratives.  While  biographers 
accept  large  portions  of  it  as  authentic,  they  reject  certain  statements 
which  conflict  with  other  sources,  with  less  hesitation  because  of  Foxe's 
well-known  inaccuracy  in  matters  of  historical  data.  To  Foxe  must  be 
added  the  indirect  evidence  in  the  controversial  works  of  Sir  Thomas 
More  directed  against  Tyndale,  a  voluminous  correspondence  preserved 
in  the  English  state  papers  bearing  upon  the  attempts  first  to  apprehend 
Tyndale,  and  afterward  to  induce  him  to  return  to  England  as  a  tool  of 
the  ministry;  and  a  few  scanty  but  interesting  hints  in  the  Belgian  state 
papers  relating  to  the  imprisonment  and  trial.  Autobiographical  references 
in  Tyndale's  own  writings  are  the  most  important  of  all,  but  these  are 
unfortunately  too  rare  and  ambiguous  to  give  much  assistance  in  correcting 
the  romancing  instinct  of  Foxe  and  filling  the  large  gaps  left  by  existing 
documents.  The  materials  have  been  worked  up  in  Anderson's  Annals  of 
the  English  Bible,  Westcott's  History  of  the  English  Bible,  and  similar 
works;  but  most  elaborately  and  impartially  in  the  standard  biography 
by  R.  Demaus  (London,  1871),  which  has  not  been  superseded  and  is  not 
likely  to  be.  It  is  based  upon  a  careful  study  of  the  sources,  and  is  marked 
by  judicious,  but  not  intemperate,  admiration  of  the  great  reformer.  Mr. 
Demaus  had  access  to  many  manuscript  records  not  known  to  the  earlier 
biographers,  spent  years  in  the  unraveHng  of  ingenious  clues,  and  produced 
what  will  probably  continue  to  be  the  authoritative  life.  For  the  study  of 
Tyndale's  New  Testament  in  its  historical  and  bibliographical  phases 
there  is  a  much  larger  body  of  literature,  including  bibliographical  colla- 
tions, facsimiles,  reprints,  etc.  But  for  his  Hfe,  particularly  his  work  on 
the  Old  Testament,  not  much  can  be  added  to  the  list  given  above.  The 
article  in  the  Dictionary  of  National  Biography  (Vol.  LVII,  p.  428)  by 
Edward  Irving  Carlyle  is  longer  than  that  in  the  Encyclopcedia  Britannica 
or  other  general  works  of  reference,  but  contains  no  new  material,  and 
appears  to  be  based  chiefly  on  Demaus. 

William   Tyndale   was  born   in   Gloucestershire^   between    1480  and 

1490.     The  date  1484  assumed  by  Demaus  rests  upon  general  considera- 

'  On  the  subject  of  Tyndale's  Hebrew  Scholarship  see  Demaus,  pp.  217,  233-37; 

Mombert,  p.  Ixxxvi;  Athenaum,  1885,  pp.  500,  562,  an  unsigned  review  of  Mombert's 

book.       »  Foxe,  "About  the  Borders  of  Wales"  (p.  1075). 


TYNDALE'S    VERSION    OF   THE    PENTATEUCH  9 

tions  rather  than  upon  direct  evidence.  Of  his  early  life  next  to  nothing 
is  known.  He  was  sent  to  Oxford,  entered  in  Magdalen  Hall  perhaps 
about  1504,  and  spent  some  years  in  the  university,  winning  the  bachelor's 
and  master's  degrees.  This  was  the  period  when  the  mediaeval  seclusion 
of  Oxford  was  being  invaded  by  disciples  of  the  new  learning  from  the 
continent,  and  Greek  studies  were  enthusiastically  prosecuted  by  the 
younger  men.  Grocyn  and  Linacre  were  teaching  the  classic  Greek; 
Latimer  and  Colet  lectured  on  the  Greek  Testament.  The  influence  of 
Colet,  particularly  of  his  lectures  on  the  Pauline  epistles,  must  be  regarded 
as  fundamental  in  forming  the  opinions  of  young  Tyndale.  In  1510 
Erasmus  of  Rotterdam  began  his  five  years  of  residence  at  the  sister  Uni- 
versity of  Cambridge,  whither  Tyndale  went  to  continue  his  studies. 
Here  he  imbibed  the  bold  and  radical  views  of  the  great  Dutch  scholar, 
whose  contempt  for  the  obscurantist  policy  of  the  church  led  him  into 
utterances  that  aroused  the  hostility  of  the  authorities.  Demaus  suggests 
that  Tyndale's  great  purpose  of  translating  the  Scriptures  may  have  been 
incited,  or  at  least  strengthened,  by  the  views  of  Erasmus  as  expressed  in  a 
famous  passage  of  his  works. 

How  long  Tyndale  remained  at  Cambridge  is  not  certain.  By  1521, 
if  not  earlier,  he  returned  to  his  native  county  of  Gloucester  to  serve  as 
tutor  and  chaplain  in  the  family  of  Sir  John  Walsh.'  Even  in  this  remote 
country  parish  his  radical  opinions  excited  controversy  among  the  neighbor- 
ing clergy,  and  he  was  rebuked  by  the  chancellor  of  the  diocese.^  It  was 
during  the  two  years  spent  there  that  his  plan  of  translating  the  New 
Testament  took  form.  In  this  purpose  he  ^as  not  moved  by  the  example 
of  Luther;  for  Luther's  translation  did  not  appear  until  1522,  and  Tyn- 
dale can  hardly  have  known  much  of  Luther's  plans  prior  to  this  time. 
Rather  was  this  great  purpose  based  on  a  conviction  that  reformation  of 
the  church  in  England  must  come  in  large  part  through  enlightenment  of 
the  common  people,  who  could  not  read  the  Vulgate  and  were  kept  in 
ignorance  by  the  clergy.  It  was  in  controversy  with  a  learned  man  of  the 
community,  says  Foxe,  that  Tyndale  uttered  his  famous  promise:  "I 
defie  the  Pope  and  all  his  lawes:  and  further  added,  that  if  God  spared 
hym  life,  ere  many  yeares  he  would  cause  a  boy  that  driueth  the  plough 
to  know  more  of  the  Scripture,  then  he  did."  ^ 

In  1523  the  young  scholar,  full  of  enthusiasm  and  hope,  departed  for 
London,  where  he  expected  to  secure  the  patronage  of  the  new  bishop, 
Tunstal,  a  man  known  to  be  interested  in  the  Greek  studies  of  Erasmus 

I  Foxe  spells  the  name  Welche  (p.  1075). 

*  Foxe,  p.  1075.  3  Foxe,  p.  1076. 


lO  TYNDALE'S    VERSION   OF   THE    PENTATEUCH 

and  More.  His  reception  was  unfavorable.  The  bishop,  whatever  his 
academic  sympathies  may  have  been,  was  an  uncompromising  opponent 
of  the  Lutheran  doctrines  then  spreading  through  England,  and  dismissed 
Tyndale  without  encouragement.  Having  failed  to  secure  recognition  for 
his  project  from  the  man  who  seemed  the  most  likely  ecclesiastic  in  En- 
gland to  afford  such  help,  he  saw  that  he  must  work  henceforth  indepen- 
dently and  in  secret.  For  some  months  he  resided  in  London  with  a 
wealthy  merchant,  to  whom  he  had  been  introduced  by  Latimer,  Humphrey 
Monmouth.  In  Monmouth's  household  he  found  that  sympathy  which 
had  been  denied  him  at  the  episcopal  palace,  met  many  learned  men,  and 
made  some  progress  in  his  studies.  Having  learned  that  he  could  not 
with  safety  issue  his  translation  in  his  native  land,  he  left  London  in  May, 
1524,  for  Germany.  Henceforth  he  was  an  exile;  and  his  great  work  for 
the  English  nation  was  wrought  in  a  foreign  land,  aided  by  foreign  scholars, 
recognized  during  his  lifetime  only  by  the  faithful  Monmouth  and  a  small 
group  of  courageous  Englishmen  who  were  later  numbered  among  the 
humbler  leaders  of  the  English  Reformation. 

Reaching  Hamburg,  he  lost  no  time  in  journeying  to  the  Saxon  city  of 
Wittenberg  to  see  Luther.'  He  arrived  at  this  Mecca  of  reformers  at  a 
somewhat  inopportune  time  for  personal  intercourse  with  the  apostle  of 
German  Protestantism.  Luther  was  in  the  midst  of  the  busiest  period  of 
his  career,  when  the  land  was  torn  asunder  with  the  struggle  known  as  the 
Peasants'  War,  and  with  the  political  upheaval  consequent  upon  the  con- 
test between  Leo  X  and  the  German  states.  Luther  had  published  his 
New  Testament  two  years  before,  and  was  now  issuing  controversial 
pamphlets,  preaching  in  the  university  church,  and  working  on  his  Old 
Testament.  Nothing  is  definitely  known  of  the  personal  relations  of  the 
English  visitor  with  his  German  colleague.  Those  who  deny  that  Tyn- 
dale made  any  use  of  Luther's  labors  go  so  far  as  to  reject  altogether  the 
statements  of  early  writers  as  to  this  visit  to  Wittenberg,  but  without 
sufficient  reason.  Assuming  that  these  contemporary  accounts  are  cor- 
rect, Tyndale  must  have  enjoyed  in  the  university  town  a  measure  of 
quiet  and  sympathy  which  enabled  him  to  make  rapid  progress  with  his 
version  of  the  New  Testament.  Hebrew  and  Greek  had  been  taught  in 
the  university  for  years.  Disciples  of  Johann  Reuchlin,  the  father  of 
German  Hebraists,  were  to  be  found  there,  as  well  as  Greek  scholars  and 
theologians.     During  the  nine  or  ten  months  of  his  sojourn  Tyndale 

'  Sir  Thomas  More,  Dialogue,  Conjutation;  Cochlaeus,  Commentarii  de  adis  et 
scriptis  M.  Lutheri,  p.  132;  Foxe,  Acts  and  Monuments,  p.  1076.  Dcmaus,  pp.  94-07. 
Contra,  Anderson,  Annals  0}  the  English  Bible,  pp.  24  ff. 


TYNDALE  S    VERSION    OF    THE    PENTATEUCH  II 

probably  began  his  acquaintance  with  the  Hebrew  tongue,  faciUties  for 
which  were  greater  at  Wittenberg  than  at  Hamburg,  Cologne,  or  Worms — 
cities  where  he  spent  the  following  years.  For  at  Wittenberg  he  might 
have  the  assistance  in  his  Hebrew  studies  of  Christian  scholars;  while  in 
the  other  cities  he  must  depend  chiefly  or  entirely  upon  Jewish  instructors, 
many  of  whom  were  still  suspicious  of  Christians  desiring  their  aid. 

With  the  help  of  his  amanuensis,  William  Roye,  an  eccentric  person 
who  gave  him  more  trouble  than  his  work  was  worth,  Tyndale  translated 
the  New  Testament  in  le.ss  than  a  year.  Believing  it  to  be  impolitic  to 
have  his  work  bear  the  imprint  of  a  Wittenberg  printer,  and  so  expose  it 
at  the  start  to  the  censorship  of  German  and  EngUsh  enemies,  he  removed 
to  Cologne,  after  a  trip  to  Hamburg  to  receive  a  remittance  of  funds  from 
Monmouth.  The  printing  of  the  book  at  Cologne  was  interrupted  by  the 
discovery  of  his  project  through  the  investigations  of  Cochlaeus,  an  agent 
of  the  church.  With  the  sheets  of  the  first  part  of  the  book,  Tyndale  and 
Roye  hurried  away  in  time  to  escape  arrest,  and  resumed  the  enterprise  in 
the  safer  refuge  of  the  city  of  Worms,  already  a  center  of  the  Protestant 
rnovement.  Here,  from  the  press  of  Peter  Schoeffer,  was  issued  in  1526 
the  octavo  Testament  of  Tyndale.  The  quarto  sheets  of  the  earlier  portion 
brought  from  Cologne  were  also,  it  is  believed,  completed  in  that  form, 
by  Schoeffer  or  some  other  printer,  and  thus  two  editions  were  put  into 
circulation.  The  only  complete  copies  now  in  existence,  however,  are  all 
of  the  octavo  edition.  Buschius  states  that  six  thousand  copies  of  the 
Testament  were  printed  at  Worms, ^  and  this  has  been  supposed  to  include 
both  editions.  Of  these  six  thousand  only  one  incomplete  quarto  and 
two  octavos  are  now  extant. 

Within  a  few  months  of  its  publication,  Tyndale's  anonymous  transla- 
tion reached  England.  In  the  spring  of  1526  it  was  secretly  circulated  in 
large  numbers.  Coming  soon  to  the  notice  of  the  authorities,  it  was  con- 
demned by  Tunstal  and  others,  at  first  without  knowledge  of  its  author- 
ship, regarded  simply  as  the  work  of  the  Lutherans,  whose  activity  was 
becoming  notorious.  The  burning  of  such  copies  as  could  be  seized  did 
not  retard  its  circulation.  An  unauthorized  reprint  by  Christopher  of 
Endhoven  at  Antwerp^  helped  to  swell  the  supply  needed  to  meet  the  grow- 
ing demand.  Desperate  attempts  were  made  in  England  to  buy  up  and 
destroy  all  copies  that  could  be  found.  This  brisk  demand  merely  moved 
the  Dutch  printers  to  issue  still  another  edition.  Their  two  editions  are 
said  by  George  Joye  to  have  numbered  about  five  thousand  copies.     The 

'  Spalatinus'  Diary  in  Schelhorn,  Amoenitates  literariae,  IV,  231. 

2  Demaus,  p.  157. 


12  TYND ale's    VERSION   OF   THE    PENTATEUCH 

investigations  set  on  foot  by  Tunstal  and  Wolsey  finally  succeeded  in  fixing 
the  responsibility  for  the  translation  upon  Tyndale  and  Roye.  But  Roye, 
already  separated  from  his  master  because  of  his  erratic  habits,  had  been 
lost  track  of,  and  Tyndale  managed  for  the  time  to  elude  the  emissaries 
of  the  English  prelates. 

In  1527  he  left  Worms.  Direct  evidence  of  his  residence  for  the  next 
two  years  is  lacking.  For  reasons  of  prudence  he  took  care  to  keep  his 
movements  secret.  It  has  been  assumed,  however,  by  biographers,  from 
certain  indications,  that  he  made  his  home  in  the  university  town  of  Mar- 
burg, a  center  of  Reformation  influence  second  only  to  Wittenberg  itself.' 
Here,  in  common  with  other  reformers,  he  would  enjoy  the  powerful  pro- 
tection of  the  Protestant  Landgraf  Philip  of  Hesse-Cassel,  and  the  advan- 
tages of  the  new  Protestant  University  of  Marburg  founded  by  that  ruler. 
Here  also  there  was  a  printing  establishment  less  likely  to  be  invaded  by 
English  spies  than  those  at  Cologne  and  Worms,  conducted  by  Hans 
Luft.^  Among  his  associates  here  was  the  learned  Hermann  Buschius, 
whom  he  had  already  met  at  Worms,  and  whose  testimony  to  his  learning 
is  worthy  of  note.3  Another  illustrious  man  whom  Tyndale  probably 
met  at  Marburg  was  the  Scottish  protomartyr  Patrick  Hamilton,  who 
spent  a  few  months  there  in  1527  with  three  companions. 

In  the  following  spring.  May  8,  1528,  Tyndale  issued  from  the  press  of 
Hans  Luft  his  Parable  of  the  Wicked  Mammon,  a  work  on  the  Reformation 
doctrine  of  justification  by  faith,  and  The  Obedience  oj  a  Christian  Man, 
treating  of  the  duties  of  a  Christian  citizen  in  his  religious,  family,  social, 
and  civic  relations.  Of  the  contents  of  these  important  works,  and  their 
bearing  upon  the  Enghsh  Reformation,  this  is  not  the  place  to  speak. 

During  1529  the  attacks  on  Tyndale  from  EngHsh  sources  increased  in 
violence.  In  particular  the  pamphlet  campaign  of  Sir  Thomas  More 
against  him  began;  a  controversy  which  was  renewed  several  years 
later  and  led  to  some  of  Tyndale's  ablest  polemic  writings.  During  that 
year  Tyndale  visited  Antwerp,  presumably  in  connection  with  arrange- 
ments for  promoting  the  exportation  of  his  New  Testament  and  other 
works.  It  happened  that  More  and  Tunstal  were  then  on  the  continent 
assisting  in  the  negotiation  of  the  Treaty  of  Cambray;  and  Tunstal  went 

1  Demaus,  chap.  vii. 

2  Dr.  Mombert  attempts  to  show  that  "Malborow  in  the  land  of  Hesse"  is  not 
Marburg,  but  a  pseudonym  for  Wittenberg.  He  presents  arguments  tending  to  show 
that  Hans  Luft  was  never  in  Marburg.  See  his  preface,  p.  xxix.  Cf.,  contra,  Athe- 
nceum,  1885,  pp.  500  ff. 

3  P.   22. 


TYNDALE'S   version   of  the   PENTATEUCH  1 3 

to  Antwerp  in  the  hope  of  seizing  some  of  Tyndale's  Testaments;  As  in 
the  former  case,  the  purchase  of  a  large  supply  for  confiscation  was  easily 
efTected,  but  the  pubHcation  of  further  editions  was  thereby  made  pos- 
sible. There  is  uncertainty  as  to  Tyndale's  movements  during  1529. 
Foxe  relates'  that  the  translator  sailed  from  Antwerp  for  Hamburg,  was 
wrecked,  with  the  loss  of  all  his  books  and  manuscripts,  reached  Hamburg 
by  another  ship,  and  spent  some  months  there,  from  Easter  to  Decem- 
ber, translating,  with  Coverdale's  aid,  the  entire  Pentateuch.  The  refer- 
ence to  Coverdale  is  not  accepted  as  very  important  by  biographers,  as 
Coverdale  could  hardly  have  aided  Tyndale  in  the  actual  task  of  translation, 
being  at  that  time  but  slightly  acquainted  with  Hebrew.  The  entire  inci- 
dent is  believed  by  Demaus'  to  be  confused  or  misdated,  as  it  con- 
flicts with  the  Antwerp  anecdote  about  Tunstal,  which  is  placed  in  the 
late  summer  of  1529.  Demaus  thinks  it  probable  that,  instead  of  going 
to  Hamburg  at  this  time,  Tyndale  returned  to  Marburg;  and,  if  so,  may 
have  been  present  at  the  famous  debate  between  Luther  and  Zwingli  upon 
the  eucharist,  which  led  to  the  final  separation  between  the  German  and 
the  Swiss  reformers. 

Whether  the  work  of  translating  the  Pentateuch  was  accomplished  at 
Hamburg  or  at  Marburg,  it  was  completed  by  the  latter  part  of  1529;  for 
the  Genesis  bears  the  imprint  of  Hans  Luft,  the  Marburg  printer,  under 
date  of  January  17,  1530.  The  Pentateuch  was  not  printed  as  a  whole, 
but  the  several  books  appear  to  have  been  issued  at  brief  intervals,  perhaps 
in  two  groups,  which  were  bound  together.  Genesis  and  Numbers  are  in 
black-letter;  Exodus,  Leviticus,  and  Deuteronomy,  in  roman  type.  No 
satisfactory  explanation  has  been  given  of  this  diversity  of  type.  Some 
have  supposed  that  the  three  books  in  roman  were  pubHshed  in  some  other 
city,  but  Demaus  finds  that  all  five  books  have  the  same  form,  the  same 
style  of  ornamental  title-pages,  and  the  same  paper.  Each  book  has  an 
introduction,  marginal  notes,  and  a  glossary  of  Hebrew  words  and  proper 
names  containing  the  etymology  of  these  terms  as  understood  by  the 
translator. 

Having  seen  his  Pentateuch  safely  through  the  press,  Tyndale  entered 
upon  the  most  important  of  his  controversial  works.  The  Practice  oj  Prel- 
ates. This  was  an  attack  upon  the  hierarchy,  particularly  the  Pope  and 
the  English  bishops,  in  which  their  excesses  and  extortions  were  satirically 
compared  with  the  simpUcity  of  the  New  Testament  church  polity.  Wolsey 
came  in  for  special  denunciation  for  his  selfish  ambition,  not  alone  from 

'  Acts  and  Monuments,  p.  1077. 
2  P.  229. 


14  TYNDALE'S   version   of   the    PENTATEUCH 

the  point  of  view  of  an  ecclesiastical  reformer,  but  considered  from 
Tyndale's  position  as  a  partiot  and  still  loyal  supporter  of  the  king. 

The  attacks  of  Sir  Thomas  More  upon  Tyndale  were  instigated  by 
Tunstal,  who  wrote  to  him  March  7,  1528/  requesting  that  he  undertake 
the  defense  of  the  Catholic  faith  against  Lutheran  heretics.  More  was  the 
most  learned  man  in  England,  a  Greek  scholar,  friend  of  Erasmus  and 
Colet,  author  of  Utopia,  a  defender  hitherto  of  liberal  principles  in  religion 
and  government.  The  singular  contrast  between  his  previous  career  and 
the  bitterness  and  narrowness  displayed  by  him  toward  his  exiled  fellow- 
countryman,  Tyndale,  is  one  of  the  puzzles  of  literary  history.  The  first 
volume  of  this  controversy,  A  Dialogue  of  Sir  Thomas  More,  Knight .... 
wherein  he  treated  divers  matters  ....  with  many  other  things  touching 
the  pestilent  sect  of  Luther  and  Tyndale,  appeared  in  June,  1529,  just  before 
More  left  for  Cambray.  Tyndale  worked  on  his  reply  during  1530  and 
published  it  at  Amsterdam  in  1531.  More  answered  in  1532  with  his 
Confutation,  following  this  up  with  passages  in  the  Debellation  of  Salem 
and  Byzance,  the  Apology,  and  the  Answer  to  the  Poisoned  Book.  Much 
of  More's  bitterness  was  due  to  Tyndale's  mistaken  charge  that  the  lord 
chancellor  had  been  moved  by  mercenary  motives  in  undertaking  the  task 
of  defending  the  church  against  the  reformers.  The  subject-matter  of  the 
volumes  on  both  sides  covers  the  whole  field  of  the  Reformation  dogmas, 
the  alleged  abuses  of  the  church,  and  the  merits  and  defects  of  Tyndale's 
version.  Notwithstanding  More's  superior  learning  in  general  history  and 
politics,  and  the  great  advantage  he  possessed  because  of  his  official  position 
and  his  intimate  acquaintance  with  the  rapidly  changing  internal  afifairs  of 
England,  he  was  unquestionably  worsted  in  the  argument.  In  his  later 
works  he  shows  that  he  himself  felt  this,  and  from  urbane  controversy  he 
descends  to  vulgar  and  malicious  abuse. 

Tyndale  in  his  Obedience  of  a  Christian  Man  had  laid  down  principles 
in  regard  to  the  supremacy  of  the  state  over  the  church  in  all  civil  affairs 
which  now  became  popular  in  court  circles  at  home.  For  Wolsey  had 
been  superseded  by  Thomas  Cromwell,  and  it  was  Cromwell's  plan  to 
assert  the  rights  of  the  king  against  the  claims  of  the  Pope.  This  new 
premier,  only  superficially  acquainted  with  Tyndale's  writings,  believed 
that  a  pamphleteer  so  acute  and  eloquent  might  render  valuable  service  in 
this  campaign.  He  therefore,  without  full  consultation  with  the  king, 
directed  the  envoy  at  Antwerp,  Stephen  Vaughan,  to  ascertain  on  what 
terms  Tyndale  would  return  to  England.  It  appears  that  this  was  not  a 
scheme  to  entrap  Tyndale  and  then  put  him  out  of  the  way,  but  a  genuine 

I  Wilkins,  Concilia,  III,  711;  Demaus,  p.  263. 


TYNDALE'S    version    of   the    PENTATEUCH  1 5 

attempt  to  bring  him  back  as  an  ally  in  the  new  policy  inaugurated  by 
Cromwell.  Vaughan,  after  some  correspondence  with  Tyndale,  had  three 
interviews  with  him  at  Antwerp  during  the  early  months  of  1531,  and  was 
completely  won  over  by  the  evident  sincerity  and  power  of  the  supposed 
heretic.  He  could  not,  however,  persuade  the  exile  to  risk  his  liberty  and 
his  life  by  setting  foot  in  England,  where  More  and  Tunstal  were  still 
breathing  out  slaughter  against  him.  Meantime  Tyndale's  Practice  of 
Prelates  having  come  to  the  notice  of  Cromwell  and  of  his  royal  master, 
the  situation  suddenly  changed.  The  Obedience  oj  a  Christian  Man  was  a 
pleasing  ])ook  in  a  king's  ears.  The  Practice  oj  Prelates  was  rank  heresy 
and  treason.  Cromwell,  by  Henry's  command,  made  Vaughan  cease  his 
efforts  to  enlist  Tyndale  in  the  king's  service.  Before  long  Vaughan  was 
superseded  at  Antwerp  by  a  man  of  another  stamp,  Sir  Thomas  Elyot,  and 
the  attitude  toward  Tyndale  became  one  of  hostility.  But  for  a  time  the 
exile  evaded  his  enemies. 

During  that  year,  1531,  he  translated  and  pubHshed  a  translation  of 
the  book  of  Jonah,  with  a  prologue.  Subsequently  he  suspended  his 
translation  work  in  order  to  enter  upon  the  task  of  expounding  the  Scrip- 
ture. In  1 53 1  appeared  his  exposition  of  the  First  Epistle  of  John.  In 
1532,  after  he  had  left  Antwerp,  and  while  he  was  roaming  from  one  Ger- 
man city  to  another,  an  exposition  of  the  Sermon  on  the  Mount  was  pub- 
Hshed. This  was  to  some  extent  based  on  Luther's  homilies  on  the  same 
portion  of  Scripture,  but  was  nevertheless  an  original  work.  In  1 533  there 
was  published  anonymously  at  Nuremberg  a  treatise  entitled  The  Supper 
of  the  Lord  ....  wherein  incidentally  Morels  letter  against  John  Fryth 
is  confuted.  This  is  attributed  to  Tyndale;  it  is  an  exposition  of  the  sixth 
chapter  of  John.  Written  to  defend  Tyndale's  friend  John  Fryth,  now 
under  arrest  in  England,  it  was  without  avail.  Fryth,  who  had  been  with 
Tyndale  on  the  continent  much  of  the  time  since  1528,  and  was  his  closest 
companion,  was  tried,  condemned,  and  suffered  martyrdom  July  4,  1533. 

The  vigor  of  the  pursuit  of  Tyndale  having  now  temporarily  abated, 
he  settled  again  in  Antwerp,  and  spent  about  two  years  there  quietly, 
busy  with  the  revision  of  the  Pentateuch  and  the  New  Testament.  New 
editions  of  both  were  issued  in  1534.  In  the  revised  edition  of  the  Penta- 
teuch the  textual  changes  were  confined  to  the  book  of  Genesis.*  Some 
alterations  were  made  in  the  glossaries  and  prologues.  The  revision  of 
the  New  Testament  was  radical  and  extensive.  Prologues  and  marginal 
notes  were  also  added.  This  revised  edition  was  preceded  by  an  unauthor- 
ized and  garbled  edition  of  the  Testament  by  Tyndale's  former  friend, 

'  See  a  collation  of  these  alterations  in  Mombert,  p.  ciii. 


1 6  TYND ale's    version    OF   THE    PENTATEUCH 

George  Joye,  who  introduced  a  few  changes  for  doctrinal  reasons,  and 
sought  a  scholar's  credit  for  a  piece  of  literary  piracy.  It  led  to  a  bitter 
controversy  between  him  and  Tyndale.  Early  in  1535  Tyndale  had  a 
second  revision  ready  for  the  press,  but  was  arrested  before  its  publication. 

The  plot  by  which  the  great  translator  fell  into  the  hands  of  his  enemies 
was  not  instigated  by  King  Henry  nor  by  the  dominant  party  in  England, 
now  by  no  means  ill  disposed  toward  him.  It  was  rather  the  work  of 
the  Catholic  reactionaries,  foiled  in  their  attempt  to  prevent  Henry's 
breach  with  Rome,  and  furious  against  Tyndale  as  one  of  the  leaders  in 
the  Protestant  movement,  as  he  was  also  the  most  defenseless.  Betrayed 
through  the  treachery  of  a  supposed  friend,  Henry  Philips,  he  was  arrested 
in  the  streets  of  Antwerp  by  the  officers  of  the  Emperor  Charles  V,  and 
imprisoned  in  the  castle  of  Vilvorde,  eighteen  miles  away.  The  date  of 
his  arrest  is  fixed  by  a  document  still  in  the  archives  at  Brussels  at  about 
May  23,  1535. 

Efforts  were  made  to  save  him  from  the  heretic's  fate.  His  friend 
Thomas  Poyntz,  at  whose  house  he  had  resided  for  a  year,  risked  his  own 
life  in  the  vain  attempt  to  change  the  determination  of  the  authorities. 
Cromwell,  when  appealed  to,  used  some  pressure  to  obtain  the  same  end, 
but  failed.  The  trial,  before  a  special  commission,  occupied  several 
months  in  1536.  Tyndale  answered  the  elaborate  charges  of  his  prosecutors 
with  ability  and  eloquence,  but  the  conclusion  was  foregone.  In  mid- 
summer sentence  of  death  was  passed  upon  him.  During  his  prison  life 
he  pursued  his  studies  so  far  as  he  was  able.  A  Latin  letter  written  by 
him  to  the  governor  of  the  prison,  requesting  warmer  clothing,  candles, 
and  the  use  of  his  Hebrew  books,  is  still  extant.  On  October  6,  1536,  he 
suffered  martyrdom  at  Vilvorde,  being  first  strangled  and  then  burned.^ 

Having  before  us  this  outHne  of  Tyndale's  life,  the  first  question  bearing 
upon  the  subject  of  this  paper  is :   Where  and  how  did  he  learn  Hebrew  ? 

The  answer  to  this  question  must  be  wholly  inferential.  Tyndale, 
so  far  as  can  be  judged  from  the  history  of  his  early  life,  knew  nothing 
of  Hebrew  when  he  left  England  in  May,  1524.  He  was  to  some  extent 
acquainted  with  Hebrew  before  writing  The  Parable  0}  the  Wicked  Mammon 
and  The  Obedience  oj  a  Christian  Man,  published  in  the  spring  of  1528. 
He  translated  the  Pentateuch  in  1529.  This  fixes  the  period  of  his  first 
Hebrew  studies  upon  which  his  translation  was  based  between  1524  and 
1528. 

I  Foxe  tells,  in  much  detail,  the  story  of  the  arrest,  imprisonment,  and  efforts  to 
save  Tyndale's  life  (pp.  1077-79). 


TYNDALE'S   version   of   the    PENTATEUCH  1 7 

Between  his  arrival  in  Germany  in  1524  and  his  arrest  in  1535,  Tyndale 
spent  his  time  in  the  following  cities,  so  far  as  can  be  discovered  or  surmised: 

Hamburg:        May,  1524 

Wittenberg:     May,  1524-April,  1525 

Hamburg:        April,  1525 

Cologne:  April-September,  1525 

Worms:  October,  1525-.  ...(?)  1527 

Marburg(?):    ....   1527-August,  1529 

Antwerp:         August,  1529 

Hamburg(?):  ....  1529 

Marburg:         December,  1529-.  .  .  .  1530 

Antwerp:  i53i-i535 
Since  his  stay  at  Hamburg  in  May,  1524,  and  again  in  April,  1525,  was 
brief,  and  the  period  of  not  more  than  five  months  spent  at  Cologne  was 
occupied  with  the  printing  of  the  unfini.shed  quarto  New  Testament, 
Tyndale  learned  his  Hebrew  in  Wittenberg,  Worms,  and  Marburg.  Inas- 
much as  the  early  months  of  his  stay  at  Wittenberg  must  have  been  chiefly 
occupied  with  the  translation  of  the  New  Testament,  not  to  mention  the 
acquisition  of  the  German  language,  we  may  probably  place  the  earliest 
date  of  his  Hebrew  studies  in  the  beginning  of  1525;  and  inasmuch  as  the 
translation  of  the  Pentateuch  must  have  occupied  the  most  of  1529,  the 
study  of  the  language  preparatory  to  that  task  can  hardly  have  continued 
much  beyond  1528.  This  leaves  four  years  during  which  Tyndale  may 
have  labored  steadily  or  at  intervals  upon  the  Hebrew  grammar  and 
Scriptures.  But  there  is  evidence  that  by  the  second  year  of  this  period 
he  had  already  made  much  progress  in  the  language.  Herman  Buschius, 
one  of  the  group  of  German  Humanists  which  included  Reuchlin,  Erasmus, 
Ulrich  von  Hutten,  and  other  leaders  in  the  revival  of  learning,  met  Tyndale 
at  Worms  before  August  11,  1526,  and  told  Spalatin  that  the  Englishman 
who  translated  the  New  Testament  was  "so  skilled  in  seven  languages, 
Hebrew,  Greek,  Latin,  Italian,  Spanish,  English,  French,  that  whichever 
he  spoke  you  would  suppose  it  his  native  tongue."'  We  must  allow  for 
some  exaggeration  in  this  statement,  since  it  is  highly  improbable  that 
Tyndale  could  actually  converse  with  any  fluency  in  Hebrew,  and  unlikely 
that  he  had  much  fluency  in  the  Italian  and  Spanish.  But  the  words  of 
Buschius,  recorded  by  a  disinterested  third  person,  certainly  show  that 
Tyndale  had  made  more  than  a  beginning  in  Hebrew  when  he  had  been 
in  Worms  only  about  nine  months.  We  are  led  therefore  to  assume  a 
period  of  elementary  study  at  Wittenberg  during  the  latter  months  of  his 
I  Diary  of  Spalatinus,  printed  in  Schelhorn,  Amocnitates  litcrariae,  IV,  431. 


l8  TYNDALE'S   version   of   the   PENTATEUCH 

stay  there  (January- April,  1525);  a  partial  interruption,  possibly,  during 
the  busy  period  of  getting  the  New  Testament  to  press  at  Cologne  and 
Worms  (April-December,  1525);  a  renewed  study,  under  Jewish  guidance, 
at  Worms  during  1526  and  part  of  the  following  year;  and  a  further  period 
of  study  in  a  university  atmosphere  with  scholarly  associates  at  Marburg, 
1527-29. 

It  will  now  be  necessary  to  examine  the  evidence  for  the  theory  above 
outlined  as  to  the  time  and  places  of  Tyndale's  Hebrew  studies.  That  he 
knew  no  Hebrew  when  he  left  England  in  May,  1524,  is  to  be  inferred 
from  three  considerations.  First,  Hebrew  was  not  taught  at  Oxford  or 
Cambridge  prior  to  that  time.  Second,  in  the  absence  of  Christian  teachers 
at  the  universities,  Tyndale,  so  far  as  we  can  judge,  had  no  opportunity 
of  learning  from  Jewish  instructors  during  his  sojourn  in  London  (1523-24). 
There  is  no  evidence  that  any  impulse  had  yet  reached  England  from  the 
enthusiastic  campaign  of  Hebrew  study  in  Germany  started  by  the  Pfeffer- 
korn-Reuchlin  controversy.  Third,  there  is  no  evidence  that  copies  of 
the  Rudimenta  Linguae  Hehraicae  of  Reuchlin  (1506)  or  other  grammatical 
manuals  had  reached  England  during  Tyndale's  residence  at  the  univer- 
sities. So  we  conclude,  in  the  absence  of  any  proof  or  contemporary  hint 
to  the  contrary,  that  neither  from  Christians,  Jews,  nor  books  did  Tyndale 
learn  anything  of  Hebrew  in  England. 

Evidence  of  the  progress  of  Tyndale's  Hebrew  studies,  in  addition  to 
the  testimony  of  Buschius  in  the  summer  of  1526,  is  found  in  the  two 
doctrinal  treatises  published  in  the  spring  of  1528,  The  Parable  of  the 
Wicked  Mammon  and  The  Obedience  oj  a  Christian  Man. 

In  The  Parable  oj  the  Wicked  Mammon  appears  this  remark  on  the 
word  "Mammon": 

First,  Mammon  is  a  Hebrew  word  and  signifieth  riches  or  temporal  goods, 
namely  all  superfluity,  and  all  that  is  above  necessity  and  that  which  is  required 
unto  our  necessary  uses  wherewith  a  man  may  help  another  without  undoing 
or  hurting  himself:  for  hamon  in  the  Hebrew  speech,  signifies  a  multitude  or 
aboundance  of  money,  and  therehence  cometh  mahamon  or  mammon,  abundance 
or  plenteousness  of  goods  or  riches.' 

In  The  Obedience  oj  a  Christian  Man  is  this  comment  on  the  Hebrew 
idiom : 

St.  Jerome  also  translated  the  Bible  into  the  mother  tongue,  why  may  not  we 
also  ?  They  will  say  it  cannot  be  translated  into  our  tongue,  it  is  so  rude.  It 
is  not  so  rude  as  they  are  false  liars.  For  the  Greek  tongue  agreeth  more  with 
the  English  than  with  the  Latin.     And  the  properties  of  the  Hebrew  tongue 

'  The  Fathers  0}  the  English  Church,  \'ol.  I,  p.  103. 


TYNDALE  S    VERSION    OF   THE    PENTATEUCH  I9 

agreeth  a  thousand  times  more  with  the  English  than  with  the  Latin.  The 
manner  of  speaking  is  both  one,  so  that  in  a  tho  usand  places  thou  needest  not 
but  to  translate  it  into  the  English  word  for  word,  when  thou  must  seek  a  compass 
in  the  Latin.' 

With  reference  to  the  place?  where  Tyndale  learned  Hebrew  and  the 
sources  of  his  knowledge  many  inferential  conclusions  can  be  drawn  from 
the  well-known  history  of  the  Talmud  controversy  which  ushered  in  the 
Reformation. 

Johann  Reuchlin  was  the  first  German  Christian  to  study  Hebrew. 
Born  at  Pforzheim  in  1455,  educated  in  Greek  at  Paris  and  Basel,  he 
became  a  teacher  of  the  classics,  though  also  practicing  the  profession  of 
law.  In  middle  life,  after  a  brilliant  career  in  diplomatic  service,  he 
began  the  serious  study  of  Hebrew  with  Loans,  the  Jewish  physician  to 
the  emperor  Frederick  IH.  In  1498  at  Rome  he  continued  these  studies 
with  another  learned  Jew-,  Obadiah  Sforno.  Returning  to  Germany,  he 
began  to  teach  the  language  to  the  many  eager  humanists  at  Heidelberg, 
Stuttgart,  and  other  cities  where  the  Greek  learning  was  already  cultivated. 
In  1506  he  issued  his  Riidimenta  Linguae  Hebraicae,  the  first  Hebrew 
grammar  in  a  European  language  for  the  use  of  Christians,  if  we  except 
the  brief  and  imperfect  sketch  published  in  1503  by  Conrad  Pellicanus, 
who  had  learned  something  of  the  language  by  working  over  Hebrew 
manuscripts  almost  without  instruction.  In  1512  Reuchhn  issued  the 
Hebrew  text  of  the  penitential  Psalms  with  grammatical  notes.  He  was 
regarded  as  the  most  learned  Hebraist  in  Germany,  though  during  the 
first  decade  of  the  century  numerous  competent  scholars  had  followed 
his  example  and  studied  the  language  under  the  guidance  of  learned  Jews 
in  Germany,  Italy,  and  France. 

When  therefore  in  1509  an  attack  on  the  Jews  and  confiscation  of  their 
books  were  planned  by  certain  of  the  Dominican  monks  of  Cologne,  led 
by  John  Pfefferkorn,  it  was  to  Reuchlin  that  the  emperor,  MaximiUan, 
referred  this  subject  to  investigate  and  report.  His  reply,  defending  the 
Jewish  books  against  the  charge  of  insulting  Christianity,  angered  his 
enemies  beyond  measure.  A  controversy  ensued  which  lasted  for  six 
years,  and  ultimately  involved  all  the  representative  men  of  Germany  on 
one  side  or  the  other;  the  Humanists  siding  with  Reuchhn  in  defense  of 
the  Jews,  the  ecclesiastics  and  many  of  the  university  faculties  against  him. 
Though  Reuchlin  escaped  condemnation  in  the  proceedings  brought 
against  him  for  his  refusal  to  recant,  he  suffered  much  abuse  and  material 

I  Doctrinal  Treatises  and  Introductions  to  Different  Portions  of  the  Holy  Scriptures 
(Parker  Society  edition,  1848),  p.  148. 


20  TYNDALE'S   version    of   the    PENTATEUCH 

losses  for  his  stand.  It  was  the  indignation  aroused  among  the  liberals 
by  the  bigotry  displayed  in  this  controversy,  together  with  the  satires  of 
the  Encomium  Moriae  and  the  Epistolae  Ohscurorum  Virorum,  which 
prepared  the  way  for  the  Lutheran  Reformation. 

The  bearing  of  this  Reuchlin-Pfefferkorn  controversy  upon  the  general 
introduction  of  Hebrew  instruction  into  German  universities  is  obvious. 
When  the  young  Humanists,  hitherto  content  with  the  newly  discovered 
riches  of  the  Greek  classics,  found  themselves  forbidden  by  the  obscurantist 
party  in  the  church  to  read  the  dangerous  Jewish  works  or  to  attempt  to 
study  the  Old  Testament  in  the  original,  that  was  the  very  thing  they  were 
the  most  eager  to  do.  Accordingly,  the  natural  course  of  events  was 
hastened;  the  Hebrew  instruction,  which  under  normal  conditions  might 
have  taken  a  generation  to  spread  through  the  universities,  and  become 
popular,  sprang  at  once  into  a  place  second  only  to  Greek.  The  demand 
for  teachers  sent  many  men  to  ReuchUn,  Sebastian  Miinster,  Pellicanus, 
and  the  other  pioneers,  for  grounding  in  the  hitherto  despised  language. 
Textbooks  were  issued  in  rapid  succession.' 

Thus,  when  Tyndale  reached  Germany,  Hebrew  was  no  longer  a 
novelty  in  the  centers  of  learning.  Reuchlin  was  dead,  but  his  younger 
associates  and  pupils  were  fairly  well  equipped  to  carry  on  his  work. 

I  The  following  list  of  Hebrew  textbooks  published  from  1500  to  1530  is  given  in 
the  Jewish  Encyclopedia.     Many  of  these  ran  through  several  editions. 

1504.     Pellicanus,  Conrad.     De  modo  legendi  et  intelligendi  Hehraeum  (Strasburg). 

1506.     Reuchlin,  Johann.     Rudimenta  Linguae  Hebraicae  una  cum  Lexico  (Pforzheim) 

1508.     Tissardus,  Franciscus.     Grammatica  Hebraica  el  Graeca  (Paris). 

1513-1521.     Guidaccerius,  Agathius.     Institutiones  Graecae  Hebraicae  (Rome). 

1516.     Capito,  W.  F.     Institutiuncula  in  Hebraicam  Linguam  (Basel). 

15 18.     Boeschenstein,  John.     Hebraicae  Grammaticae  Institutioties  (Wittenberg). 

1502.     Miinster,  Sebastian.     Epitome  Hebraicae  Grammaticae  (Basel). 

1520.     Pagninus,  Sanct.  Institutiones  Hebraicae  (Lyons). 

1522.     Anonymous.     Rudimenta  Hebraicae  Grammaticae  (Basel). 

1524.  Miinster,  Sabastian.    Institutiones  Grammaticae  in  Hebraicam  Linguam  (Basel). 

1525.  Aurigallus,    Matthew.     Compendium    Hebraicae    Chaldaeaeque    Grammaticae 
(Wittenberg). 

1526.  Zamorensis,  Alphonsus.     Introductiones  Artis  Grammaticae  Hebraicae  (Com- 
plutum). 

1528.     Van  Campen,  John.     Ex   Variis  Libellis  Eliae  ....  quidquid  ad  Graecam 

Hebraicam  est  necessarium  (Louvain). 
1528.     Fabricius,  Theodorus.     Institutiones  Linguae  Sanctae  (Cologne). 
1528.     Pagninus,  Sanct.     I nstitutlonum  Hebraicarum  Abbreviatio  (Lyons). 
152Q.     Clendardus,  Nicolas.     Tabulae  in  Graecam  Hebraicam  (Louvain). 
1530.     Sebastianus,  Augustus.     Grammatica  Linguae  Ebraae  (Marburg) 


TVNDALE  S    VERSION    OF   THE    PENTATEUCH  21 

Chairs  of  Hebrew  existed  at  Heidelberg,  Wittenberg,'  and  perhaps  at 
others  of  the  universities,  while  one  was  established  at  the  new  University 
of  Marburg  about  the  time  of  Tyndale's  arrival  there. 

When  Tyndale,  in  the  year  1529,  set  about  the  work  of  translating  the 
Pentateuch,  his  equipment  for  the  task  was  by  no  means  meager.  He 
had,  first  of  all,  acquired  facility  in  the  diflScult  art  of  translation  by  his 
New  Testament.  In  that  task  he  had  chosen  the  style  which  seemed  best 
fitted  for  rendering  the  Scriptures — a  style  so  simple  in  its  structure,  so 
close  to  the  paratactic  quality  of  Hellenic  Greek,  that  it  is  well-nigh  trans- 
parent. The  reader  imagines  he  is  reading  the  one  inevitable,  obvious 
sentence  which  alone  could  render  the  original  into  EngHsh;  and  not 
until  it  is  compared  with  the  painful  artificialities  of  modern  attempts  to 
translate  the  New  Testament  into  contemporary  speech,  not  until  the 
scholar  compares  Tyndale's  Testament  with  the  current  EngUsh  of  the 
early  Tudor  period,  is  the  full  significance  of  this  first  modern  version 
perceived.  Those  who  are  never  content  to  leave  a  writer  more  than  the 
merest  vestige  of  originality  point  to  Wiclif 's  version,  and  seek  by  parallel 
columns  to  demonstrate  Tyndale's  heavy  indebtedness  of  Wiclif.  It  is 
not  to  be  denied  that  manuscript  copies  of  Wiclif 's  Testament  circulated 
freely  as  late  as  the  latter  half  of  the  fifteenth  century,  and  that  Tyndale 
was,  of  course,  familiar  with  it.  Neither  can  it  be  denied  that  in  the  choice 
of  words,  notwithstanding  the  obsolete  diction  of  the  earlier  translator, 
Tyndale  was  often  content  to  adopt  phrases  that  commended  themselves 
to  him.  No  friend  of  Tyndale  needs  to  exalt  him  by  depreciating  Wiclif. 
But  Tyndale  expressly  declares  that  he  was*  not  dependent  on  his  prede- 
cessor, making  his  own  translation  throughout  rather  than  revising  the  old.* 

On  the  question  of  Tyndale's  English  style  as  a  translator  we  have  for- 
tunately a  considerable  basis  for  comparison  in  his  voluminous  doctrinal, 
controversial,  and  expository  works.  As  might  be  expected,  in  these 
writings  the  sentences  are  longer,  the  rhetorical  balance  more  elaborate; 
but  both  in  invective  and  in  exhortation,  in  the  biting  epigram  and  the 
eloquent  homily,  we  find  evidence  of  that  genius  for  cadences  and  rhythmic 
flow  of  syllables  which  marks  our  English  Bible  above  all  other  works  of 
EngUsh  prose.     The  only  writers  of  his  age  in  whom  we  find  this  style 

1  Among  the  Hebraists  in  Luther's  circle  at  Wittenberg  were  Matthaeus  Auro- 
gallus,  Johann  Forster,  Bernhard  Ziegler,  and  George  Rorer.  See  Buchwald,  Doktor 
Martin  Luther,  p.  321. 

2  "  I  had  no  man  to  counterfeit,  neither  was  helped  with  EngHsh  of  any  that  had 
interpreted  the  same  or  such  like  another  in  the  Scripture  beforetime"  ("Epistle  to 
the  Reader,"  subjoined  to  the  New  Testament). 


22  TYNDALE  S    VERSION    OF   THE    PENTATEUCH 

developed,  with  its  nice  balance  of  the  Latin  and  Anglo-Saxon  words  and 
syntax,  are  Latimer,  in  his  sermons,  for  the  short  sentence  and  pithy 
phrase,  and  Cranmer,  translator  of  the  larger  part  of  the  Prayer  Book  for 
the  rhythms.  It  was  not  the  common  style  of  learned  men  in  the  reign  of 
Henry  VIII.  Sir  Thomas  More  shows  few  traces  of  it.  He  writes  a  Latin- 
ized English  without  flexibility  and  without  melody.  The  English  version 
of  the  Utopia  is,  of  course,  not  by  More  at  all,  but  by  one  Ralph  Robinson, 
and  belongs  to  the  following  generation. 

This  style  of  Tyndale's,  which  set  the  fashion  for  Coverdale  and  all  his 
successors,  owes  not  a  little  of  its  charm  to  the  fact  that  it  was  shaped  in 
its  phrasing  by  the  loose  syntactical  structure  of  the  Greek  Testament.  It 
is  to  be  noted  that  among  the  numerous  translations  of  the  Early  Tudor 
period  those  from  the  French — for  example,  Lord  Berners'  version  of 
Froissart — most  nearly  approach  this  style  of  Tyndale's;  and  for  the 
obvious  reason  that  the  translator  in  each  case  happened  to  be  too  good  a 
scholar  to  paraphrase  in  Latinized  periods  a  narrative  told  in  short  words 
and  co-ordinate  clauses.  We  have  but  to  compare  Tyndale  at  his  worst — 
that  is,  in  his  most  vehement  tirades  against  More— with  the  typical  pam- 
phlets and  formal  correspondence  of  Henry's  reign,  to  feel  instantly  the 
individuality  of  the  man  and  his  feeling  for  the  new  English  prose  that  had 
so  lately  come  into  being. 

If  this  was  the  first  and  one  of  the  most  important  of  Tyndale's  quali- 
fications, when  he  undertook  the  translation  of  the  Pentateuch,  a  second 
was  his  Hebrew  studies,  already  referred  to.  The  apparatus  at  his  com- 
mand can  be  estimated  with  some  approach  to  probability. 

For  Hebrew  grammar  he  had  at  his  command  the  considerable  number 
of  textbooks  enumerated  above,  of  which  those  by  Reuchlin  (1506),  Miin- 
ster  (1520),  and  the  two  published  at  Wittenberg  by  the  leading  Hebraists 
there,  Boeschenstein  (1518)  and  Aurigallus  (1525),  were  probably  his 
chief  authorities,  since  they  would  naturally  be  the  most  accessible. 

For  lexicons  he  had  the  vocabulary  accompanying  Reuchlin's  Rudi 
menta  (1506),  Sebastian  Munster's  Lexicon  hebraicum  chaldaicum  (Basel, 
1508,  1523),  and  perhaps  Pagninus'  Thesaurus  linguae  sanctae  sive  lexicon 
hebraicum  (Lyons,  1529). 

For  the  Hebrew  text  there  was  no  want  of  printed  editions.  At  least 
five  had  been  printed  in  Italy  and  Spain  since  1488,  the  most  popular  of 
which  was  that  of  Bomberg,  published  at  Venice  in  1517.  This  included 
the  Targum  of  Onkelos  on  the  Pentateuch,  of  which  Tyndale  is  supposed 
by  some  editors  to  have  made  occasional  use. 

For  the  Vulgate  there  were,  of  course,  many  printed  editions.     Of  the 


TYNDALE'S   version   of   the    PENTATEUCH  23 

Septuagint,  editions  were  to  be  found  in  the  Complutensian  Polyglot 
(1514),  the  Aldine  edition  (1518),  and  the  Strasburg  edition  of  1526. 

Luther's  translation  of  the  five  books  of  Moses,  the  first  part  of  his 
Old  Testament,  appeared  in  1523,  and  was  of  course  constantly  before 
Tyndale  in  his  work. 

The  question  arises  whether  Tyndale  had  with  him  in  Germany  a 
manuscript  of  the  Wiclifite  Old  Testament  by  Nicholas  de  Hereford  or  its 
revision  by  John  Purvey,  or  whether  such  resemblances  as  can  be  traced 
between  these  early  versions  and  his  are  either  accidental  or  due  to  recol- 
lections of  a  version  familiar  to  him  in  his  youth.  These  resemblances 
are  much  less  numerous  than  in  the  New  Testament,  where  there  is  no 
possible  doubt  that  Tyndale  used  Wiclif's  work.  If  Foxe's  story  of  the 
shipwreck  on  the  voyage  to  Hamburg  in  1529  be  accepted,^  we  must  con- 
clude that  any  such  manuscript  of  either  of  the  fourteenth-century  Old 
Testament  versions,  even  if  Tyndale  originally  had  one  and  used  it  in  his 
first  draft  of  Deuteronomy,  was  lost  in  that  disaster;  and  it  does  not  seem 
likely  that  it  could  be  promptly  replaced  by  friends  in  England  in  time  to 
be  used  in  the  work  on  the  Pentateuch. 

We  come  now  to  the  central  problem  of  this  inquiry:  To  what  extent 
did  Tyndale  use  the  Hebrew  in  his  Pentateuch  ? 

This  question  is  to  be  decided  only  by  a  comparison  of  his  version  with 
the  original,  with  the  Vulgate,  with  Luther's  version,  and  with  Hereford's 
and  Purvey's.  It  is  not  so  easy  of  settlement  as  prejudiced  writers  on 
either  side  have  attempted  to  prove.  If  his  authorship  of  the  books  from 
Joshua  to  Chronicles  in  Rogers'  and  Coverd^le's  Bibles  could  be  assumed, 
we  should  have  a  larger  basis  for  induction.  The  Pentateuch  consists  so 
largely  of  straightforward  narrative,  in  which  alternative  renderings  of  the 
Masoretic  text  are  seldom  possible;  it  has  so  few  obscurities  as  compared 
with  the  poetical  and  prophetic  books,  that  we  may  dihgently  compare 
many  chapters  in  Tyndale,  Luther,  and  the  Vulgate,  as  the  present  writer 
has  done,  without  being  able  to  find  a  single  datum  for  our  inquiry.  On 
the  other  hand,  there  are  in  the  Pentateuch  certain  well-known  difficulties, 
due  either  to  rare  words,  poetic  diction,  or  a  corrupt  text,  which  afi'ord  a 
more  promising  field  for  such  study. 

It  would  be  manifestly  impracticable  to  present  here  in  parallel  columns 
the  several  versions  of  the  entire  Pentateuch,  or  of  an  entire  book.  Four- 
fifths  of  such  material  would  yield  negative  results.  The  method  chosen, 
after  a  comparison  of  the  entire  Pentateuch  in  the  manner  indicated,  is  to 
select  such  chapters  as  offer  tangible  evidence  upon  one  side  or  the  other — 
'  Acts  and  Monuments,  p.  1077. 


24  TYNDALE  S    VERSION    OF   THE    PENTATEUCH 

Tyndale's  originality  on  the  one  hand,  his  dependence  on  the  Vulgate  and 
Luther  on  the  other  hand.  Words  and  phrases  presenting  variations 
deemed  significant  for  one  reason  or  another  are  quoted,  with  their  equiva- 
lents in  the  Hebrew,  the  Septuagint,  the  Vulgate,  the  two  Wiclifite  ver- 
sions, and  Luther's  version.  The  first  chapter  of  Genesis  is  given  entire, 
as  a  fair  specimen  of  straight  narrative  prose,  and  the  number  and  char- 
acter of  data  for  our  inquiry  to  be  found  in  such  prose.  Isolated  passages 
from  Genesis  present  further  typical  examples.  From  the  three  consider- 
able poetic  pieces  in  the  Pentateuch,  Genesis,  chap.  49,  Deuteronomy, 
chaps.  32  and  33,  are  taken  such  passages  as  show  facts  bearing  on  the  dis- 
cussion ;  affording,  by  reason  of  their  difficulties,  more  numerous  tangible 
instances  of  dependence  or  independence  than  any  other  portion  of  the 
material. 

For  the  Hebrew  the  Masoretic  text  is  given;  for  the  Septuagint,  Swete's 
text;^  for  the  Vulgate,  the  standard  Vatican  edition,  from  a  copy  printed 
at  Frankfort  in  1829  collated  with  a  Venetian  edition  of  1478  (Newberry 
Library);  for  Hereford  and  Purvey,  the  edition  of  the  Wiclif  Bible  by 
Forshall  and  Madden  (Oxford,  1850);  for  Luther,  a  Bible  printed  at 
Frankfort  in  1583,  now  in  the  Newberry  Library;  for  Tyndale,  the  critical 
reprint  edited  by  Dr.  J.  I.  Mombert  (New  York,  1884),  the  only  reprint 
ever  made  of  Tyndale's  Pentateuch.  Dr.  Mombert's  work  was  conducted 
with  every  precaution  to  insure  literal  accuracy  of  reproduction,  and  is  to 
be  depended  on  so  far  as  the  text  is  concerned.  His  introduction  contains 
a  large  amount  of  bibliographical  and  other  information,  together  with 
certain  conclusions  as  to  the  unsettled  historical  questions  of  Tyndale's 
life,  which  are  at  some  points  in  conflict  with  other  authorities.  He  has 
also  taken  the  singular  course  of  appending  to  the  text  of  the  Pentateuch, 
"in  the  form  of  footnotes,  glosses  selected  from  Luther's  version  and  the 
Rogers  Bible  of  1537,  which  at  times  are  confusing  to  the  student.  The 
book  was  unfavorably  reviewed  in  the  Athenceum  (1885,  Vol.  I,  pp.  500, 
562).  The  reviewer  points  out  many  alleged  errors  in  Mombert's  biblio- 
graphical statements,  and  ridicules  his  theory  that  the  Pentateuch  was 
really  printed  at  Wittenberg  instead  of  Marburg.  He  does  not,  however, 
criticise  in  any  respect  the  fidelity  of  the  reprint  of  the  text  of  the  Penta- 
teuch, with  which  we  are  here  concerned. 

I  The  Hebrew  and  Greek  have  been  collated  with  the  texts  in  Walton's  Polyglot 
(1657),  no  copy  of  the  Complutensian  Polyglot  first  edition  being  available.  No 
variations  from  the  modern  text  were  found  in  the  passages  herein  quoted. 


TYNDALE'S   VERSION   OF   THE    PENTATEUCH 


25 


1 

Omits   definite    arti- 
cle following  V  H 
P  L  against  Heb. 
LXX. 

Follows   LXX    &    L 
in     omitting     the 
idiomatic    Hebrew 

Follows     L     against 
LXX  VHP. 

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26  TYNDALE'S    version    of   the    PENTATEUCH 


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Da  machet  Gott  die 
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Und     es     geschah 

i 

Und  Gott  nennet  die 
Festen  |  Himmel. 
Da      ward     ausz 
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Und  Gott  sprach:  Es 
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das   trocken   sehe. 
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also. 

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TYNDALE'S   version   of   the   PENTATEUCH 


27 


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28 


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TYNDALE  S   VERSION   OF  THE   PENTATEUCH 


29 


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30  TYNDALE'S    version   of   the    PENTATEUCH 


< < < 


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TYNDALE'S    VERSION    OF    THE    PENTATEUCH 


31 


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32  TYNDALE'S    version    of   the    PENTATEUCH 


"sjo  ^—   S(u'2«S'Si.«'2        °j=^'S_'^-S  ^-S-aS-OMMt, 

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TYNDALE'S   VERSION   OF   THE    PENTATEUCH 


33 


i 

Rejects  L's  correct 
rendering  for  one 
of  his  own  not  so 
good. 

Follows  L  against 
Heb.  LXX  V  H  P. 

All  the  versions  mis- 
interpret Dnt3 . 
T  follows  LXX  V, 
h(jwever,  not  L. 

Follows  LXX  VHP 
against  L's  correct 
rendering. 

.•\n  independent  con- 
jecture. 

Follows  L  in  render- 

ing    na3D 

against  V  H  P. 

A  vigorous  independ- 
ent rendering  of 
the  Heb.  idiom. 

Abandons  L's  loose 
paraphrase  for  an 
independent  ren- 
dering, showing  in 
the  phrase  used  for 
^Sim  a  desire 
to  follow  English 
usage. 

H 

wyth  all  their  ap- 
parell: 

in  the  tyme 

and       all      the 
shrubbes     of     the 
felde  be  fore  they 
were  in  the  erthe. 
And  all  the  herbes 
of  the  felde  before 
they  sprange. 

[a  garden  in    Eden] 
from    the    begyn- 
nynge 

all    the    lande    of 
Inde 

an  helper  to  beare 
him  company 

tush   ye  shall  not 
dye 

I  will  suerly  encrease 
thy      sorow      and 
make  the  oft  with 

child 

J 

mit    iren    gantzen 
Heer. 

zu  der  zeit 

und     allerley 
Biiume    au£f   dem 
Felde  |  die  zuvor 
nie    gewest    waren 
auflt  Erden  1   Und 
allerley  Kraut  aufI 
dem    Felde  1   das 
zuvor     nie    ge- 
wachsen  war. 
gegen  dem  Morgen 

das  gantze  Moren- 

land 

ein  Gehiilffen  die 

umb  jn  sey 

Ir  werdet  mit  nichte 
desz  tods  sterben. 

Ich    wil    dir    vil 
schmertzen    schaf- 
fen     wenn     du 
schwanger    wirst  | 
D  u      s  o  1 1     mit 
schmertzen  Kinder 
gebereii. 

CU 

and  al  the  ourne- 
ment  of  tho. 

in  the  day 

and  ech  litil  tre  of 
erthe  bifore  that  it 
sprong    out   in 
erthe;    and    he 
made  ech  erbe  of 
the    feeld   bifore 
that  it  buriownede 

at    the    bigynnyng 

at    the    loond    of 

Ethiopie 

an     help    lijk     to 

hym  silf 

Ge  schulen  not  die  bi 
deeth 

thi    wretchidnessis 
and    thi    conseyu- 
yngis 

a 

and  al  the  anowrn- 
ing  of  hem. 

in  the  day 

and  ech  bushe  of 
the  feeld  or  it  were 
growunin    the 
erthe,  and  al  erbe 
of    regioun    bifore 
that  it  buriownde 

fro  bigynnynge 

at    the    erthe    of 

Ejhiope 

help  Uke  hym. 

Thurg  deth  ge  shal 
not  die 

thi  myseses  and  thi 
conceyujTigis 

> 

et    omnis    ornatus 
eorum 

in  die 

et  omne  virgultum 
agri  antequam  ori- 
retur  in  terra,  om- 
nemque       herbam 
regionis  priusquam 
germinaret 

a  principio 

Ethiopiae 

adjutorium    simile 
sibi 

nequaquam   morte 
moriemini 

aerumnas   tuas   et 
conceplus      tuas 

if 111,    .    1  \  Ii 

\      f  ■^ii.fl       %    1       JMI 

-o                         'S:           «                                                              K                    1            CO.                  o                   ° 

a 

d' 
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TYNDALE'S   VERSION   OF  THE   PENTATEUCH 


37 


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38  TYNDALE's   version   of   the   PENTATEUCH 


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TYNDALE'S   version   of   the   PENTATEUCH  39 

Ii  ^d      1"       i^- 

^  -5  Jo.*"" 


§1  I      I'i      igs     juii^s^ 


H 

Isachar  is  a  stronge 
asse,    he    couched 
him    doune     be- 
twene   n   borders. 

was  good  and  the 
lande   that  it  was 
pleasant,      and 
bowed  his  shulder 
to  beare,   and  be- 
came a  servaunte 
vnto  trybute. 

iii 

Gad,   men  of  warre 
shall   invade   him. 
And  he  shall  turne 
them  to  flyght. 

Off     Asser     cometh 
fatt  breed,  and  he 
shall    geue    pleas- 
ures for  a  kynge. 

J 

Isaschar  wirt   ein 
beinern      Esel 
seyn   |  und  sich 
lagern  zwischen  die 

d 

s 
a 
0 

ruwe  1  dasz  sie  gut 
ist   1    und      das 
Landt  1  dasz    es 
lustig  ist  1  Er  hat 
aber    seine    schul- 
tern     geneigt     zu 
tragen  |  und  ist  ein 

1 

c 

s 

1 

fc  S  « 

III 

f  =  * 

Q 

1 

-C    1-1 

Gad    geriist  1  wirt 
das  Heer  fUhren  1 
und  wider  herumb 
fUhren . 

Von     Asser     kompt 
sein     fett     Brot  | 
Und   er   wirt   den 
Kanigen  zu  gefal- 
len  thun. 

a, 

It 

1  ii 

was  good  and  seig 
the  lond  that  it  was 
best,  and  he  vndir- 
settide  his  schuldre 
to  here,  and  he  was 
maad  seruynge  to 
tributis. 

1 

Gad   schal   be    gird, 
and  schal  figte  bi- 
for   hym,    and   he 
schal   be   gird  bi- 
hynde. 

Aser  his  breed  schal 
be    plenleuouse, 
and  he  schal  gyue 
deliiis    to    kyngis. 

S   °^   rt 


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40  TYNDALE  S    VERSION   OF    THE    PENTATEUCH 

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TYNDALE'S   VERSION   OF  THE   PENTATEUCH  41 


< 
OS 

Disregards   L's   cor- 
rect translation. 

Follows  L's  fantastic 
conjecture. 

Independent  in  trans- 
lating -i^t:  . 

Avoids  the  bold  Hcb. 
figure.      His  para- 
phrase is  indejiend 
ent. 

Independent   render- 
ing of  DT3T0 .  in 
keeping   with    the 
context,  which  L's 
is  not. 

H 

The  blessinges  of  thy 
father       were 
strongc :     euen    as 
the    blcs.'iingcs    of 
my  ciders,  after  the 
dcsyre  of  the  hiest 
in  the  worlde,  and 
these  blessinges 
shall    fall    on    the 
head     of     loscph, 
and  on  the  toppe 
of  the  head  of  him 
yt  was  separat  from 
his  brcthern. 

He  is  a  rockc  and 
perfecte  are  his 
deadcs,  for  all  his 
wayes  are  with  dis- 
crccion.  God  is 
faithfull  and  with- 
out wekednessc, 
both  rightiious  and 
juste  is  he. 

The  frowarde  and 
ouerthwarte  gen- 
eracion  hath 
marred  them  selues 
to  himward,  and 
are  not  his  sonnes 
for  their  deform- 
ities .sake. 

_] 

Die  segen  deines  Vat- 
ters  gchen  stcrcker 
denn     die     segen 
mciner     Voraltern 
(nach  wundsch  der 
Hohcn  in  die  Welt) 
und    sollen    kom- 
men    auff     das 
Haupt      Joseph  1 
und     auff     die 
Scheitcl  desz  Nasir 
unter  seinen  Briid- 
ern. 

Er  ist  cin  Felsz  1 
seine  Werck  sind 
unstratflich  |  Denn 
alles  was  er  thut 
das  ist  recht. 
Trew  ist  Gott  1 
und  kein  boses  an 
jm  1  Gerccht  und 
from!)  ist  er. 

Die  verkehrete  und 
bosc  art  sellet  von 
jm  al.  1  Sie  sind 
Schandlflccken  | 
und  nicht  seine 
Kinder. 

c.^ 

The      blessyngis 
of  thi  fadirben 
coumfortid,  the 
blessyngis    of    his 
fadris,  til  the  desire 
of    euerlastynge 
hilUs   cam;    bless- 
yngis ben  maad  in 
the  heed  of  Joseph, 
and  in  the  nol  of 
Nazarei  among  his 
britheren. 

The   werkis  of   God 
ben  pcrfit,  and  alle 
hise  weies  ben 
domes;    God  is 
fcithful,  and  with- 
out  ony  wickid- 
nesse;   God  is  iust 
and  rigtful. 

Thei  synneden  agens 
hym,  and  not  hise 
soncs     in     filthis, 
thatis,  ofidolatrie; 
schrewid  and  wai- 
ward  generacioun. 

in 

The    blissyngis  of 
thi  fader  ben  coum- 
fortid   with    the 
blissyngis    of    the 
fadris  of  hym,   to 
the  tyme  that  were 
comen  the  desyre 
of    euerlastynge 
hillis;  ben  thei 
maad  in  the  heed 
of  Joseph,  and  in 
the  heed  of  Naza- 
rei  amonge  his 
bretheren. 

Of  God  perfit  ben  the 
werkys,    and    allc 
his  weyes  domes;  a 
trewe     God,     and 
^ith     outen     eny 
wickidnes,  rygt  wis 
and  euen. 

Thei  han  synned  to 
hym,  and  not  his 
sones     in     filthis; 
shrewid   kynred, 
and  mysturnyd. 

> 

Benedictiones    patris 
tui  confortatae  sunt 
benedictionibus 
patruin  ejus,  donee 
veniret  desideriuni 
collium     acterno- 
rum,  fiant  in  capite 
Joseph,  et  in  ver- 
tice  Nazaraei  inter 
fratres  suos. 

Dei     perfecta     sunt 
opera,    et    omnes 
viae   ejus   judicia; 
Deus     fidelis,     et 
absque  uUa  iniqui- 
tate,  Justus  et  rec- 
tus. 

Peccaverunt     ei,     et 
non    filii    ejus    in 
sordibus;    genera- 
tio     prava     atque 
perversa. 

iifllfilHi    !ijh;s  |i!i 

1                     1 

42 


TYNDALE's   version   of   the   PENTATEUCH 


i 

1 
a 

1 
It 

1  * 

Follows  I.. 

Independent,  a  good 
rendering. 

H 

Remembre  the  dayes 
that  are  past :  con- 
sydre    the    yeres 
from  tyme  to  tyme. 
Axe  thy  father  and 
he  will  shewe  the, 
thyne    elders    and 
they  wyll  tell  the. 

When  the  most  hygh- 
est  gaue  the  nacy- 
ons  an  enheri- 
tauncc,anddiuided 
the    sonnes    of 
Adam  he   put  the 
borders    of     the 
nacions,    fast     by 

o  ■B 
Is 

Ill 

He  founde  him  in  a 
deserte  londe,  in  a 
voyde  ground  and 
a   rorynge   wilder- 
nesse.    he  led  him 
aboute    and    gaue 
him  vnderstond- 
ynge,    and     kepte 
him  as  the  a  pie  of 
his  eye. 

h-S 

Bedenck  der  vorigen 
Zeit    bisz   daher  1 
und  betracht  was 
er   gethan   hat   an 
den  alten  Vattern  1 
Frage  deinen  Vat- 
ter  1  der  wirdt  dirs 
verkundigen  1 

-a   ^ 
g^ 

1  s 

Da    der    AUerhohest 
die     \'olcker     zer- 
theilet  1  und    zer- 
strewct  der    Men- 
schen  Kinder.    Da 
setzt  er  die  Grent- 
zen    der  Volcker  1 
nach  der  zahl  der 

1 

a 
5 

Er   fandt    jn   in   der 
Wusten  1  in    der 
durrem    Einode  1 
da   es  heulet.     Er 
fiihret  jn  1  und  gab 
jm     das     Gesetz  | 
Er  behutet  jn  wie 
sein  Augapffel. 

&< 

Haue  thou  minde  of 
elde  daies,  thenke 
thou    alle    genera- 
ciouns;     axe     thi 
fadir,  and  he  schal 
telle   to   thee,   axe 
thi    grettere    men, 
and    thei    schulen 

1 

o 

Whanne   the   higeste 
departide  folkis, 
whanne     he    de- 
partide the  sones  of 
Adam,  he  ordeyn- 
ede   the   termis  of 
puplis     bi    the 
noumbre   of   the 

■o 

The  Lord  foond  hym 
in  a  deseert  lond, 
in     the     place     of 
orrour,  and  of  wast 
wildirnesse;    the 
Lord    ledde    hym 
aboute,  and  taugte 
hym,  and  kepte  as 
the    apple    of    his 
ige. 

K 

Haue  mynde  of  olde 
days,     and    thenk 
eche  generaciouns; 
aske  thi  fader,  and 
he  shal  telle  to  thee, 
thi  more,  and  thci 
shulen  seie  to  thee. 

Whanne      deuydide 
the  higest  folkis  of 
kynde,  whanne  he 
seuerdethesonesof 
Adam,  he  sette  the 
teermys   of   puplis 
after  the  noumbre 
of    the     sones    of 

1 

He  foond  hym  in  a 
deseert    loond,    in 
place     of     orrour, 
and  of  waast  wil- 
dernes;     he    ladde 
hym    aboute,    and 
taugte,  and  kept  as 
the    apple    of    his 
eye. 

> 

Memento     dierum 
antiquorum,  cogita 
generationes     sin- 
gulas;       interroga 
patrem    tuum,    et 
annunciabit      tibi; 
majores    tuos,    et 
dicent  tibi: 

Quando       di\idebat 
Altissimus    gentes, 
quando    separabat 
filios   Adam,    con- 
slituit    terminos 
populorum      juxta 
numerum  fihorum 
Israel. 

Invenit  eum  in  terra 
deserta,     in     loco 
horrorris  et  vastae 
solitudinis,  circum- 
duxit     eum    et 
docuit;     et    custo- 
divit   quasi    pupil- 
lam  oculi  sui; 

a 

lllilili 

a. 

'='<=>    o    b    s   .•< 

■°  -3  '^  r "  j; 

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W 

mm 

Q 

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TYNDALE'S   version   of  the   PENTATEUCH 


47 


<2 

Independent     and 
wrong  (though 
this  reading  is 
adopted  by  the 
Revisers) 

P'ollows  L  in  making 
nX   interrogalive. 

Follows  V  (H  P) 
against  Heb.  LXX 
L. 

i 

II 

H 

Reioyse  hethen  wyth 
hys      people,     for 
he  will  auenge  the 
bloude  off  his  ser- 
vauntes,  and    wyll 
auenge  hym  off  hys 
aduersaryes,     and 
wilbe    mercyfuU 
vnto  the  londc  off 
hys    people. 

How    loued    he    the 
people?      .\11    his 
sayntes  are  in  his 
honde.     They 
yoyncd  themsclues 
vnto  thy  fote  and 
rcceaued     t hi 
wordes. 

And  he  w;is  in  Israel 
kingc      when      he 
gathered      the 
heedes    of    the 
people      and     the 
tribes  of  Israel  to 
gether. 

hJ 

Jauchtzet    alle  |  die 
jr  sein  Volck  seyt 
1  Denn  er  wil  das 
Blut  seine  Knechte 
rcchen.     Und  wirt 
sich   an   seinen 
Fcinden     rechen  1 
un    gnadig    seyn 
dem   Lande  stines 
Volcks. 

Wie  hat  cr  die  I. cute 
so     lieb?     Alle 
seine  Heyli  Ren  sind 
in    deincr    Hand  1 
Sie     werden     sich 
setzen    zu    deinen 
Fuszen  1  un    wer- 
den   lehrnen    von 

deinen  wortcn. 
Und  er  vrrwaltet  das 
.Ampt   cines    Kon- 
iges  1  und  hielt  zu- 
sammen  die  Haup- 
ter    desz    Volcks  1 
sampt    den    Stam- 
mcn  Israel. 

Oh 

Folkis,  preise  ge  the 
puplis  of  hym,  for 
he  schal  venie  the 
blood   of  his   ser- 
uauntis,    and    he 
schal    gelde    veni- 
aunce    in    to    the 
enemyes   of   hem; 
and    he   schal    be 
merciful     to     the 
lend  of  his  puple. 

He    louede     puplis; 
alle    seyntis     ben 
in   his    bond,  and 
thei     that    neigen 
to  his  feet  schulen 
take    of    his    doc 
tryn. 

And  the  king  schal  be 
at  the  moost   rigt- 
ful,whanne  princes 
of    the    puple 
schulen  be  gadcrid 
togidere   with    the 
lynagis  of  Israel. 

K 

Preyse  ge  gentils,  the 
puple  of  hym,  for 
the    blood    of    his 
seruauntis  he  shal 
wreek,    and    vcni- 
ounce  he  shal  quyte 
into    the    enemyes 
of  hem,  and  he  shal 
be  merciful  to  the 
erthe  of  his  puple. 

H^    louede    puples; 
alle  seyntis  in  the 
hoond  of  hym  ben, 
and  that  neigen  to 
the    feet    of    hym, 
shulen  taak  of  the 
loor  of  hym. 

And    there    shal    be 
anentis  the  moost 
rigta     kyng,     the 
princis  of    the 
puple  gedrid  with 
the    lynagis    of 
Yrad. 

> 

Laudate  gentes  popu- 
lum  ejus,  quia  san- 
guincm     servorum 
suorum   ulciscetur, 
et     vindictam     rc- 
tribuet    in    hostes 
eorum,  et  propitius 
erit  Terrae  populi 
sui. 

Dilcxit  populos,  om- 
nes  sancti  in  manu 
illius  sunt,  et  qui 
appropinquant  pe- 
dibus  ejus,  accipi- 
ent     de     doctrina 
illius. 

Erit     apud     rectissi- 
mum  rex,   congre- 
gatis  principibus 
populi   cum  tribu- 
bus  I.srael. 

X 

1=1  £'2- -1-2  S-I^4l.1  g.? 

K 

mm 

r      »•• 

5 

s 

48 


TYNDALE  S    VERSION   OF   THE    PENTATEUCH 


< 
s 

Future    for    impera- 
tive;  independent, 
wrong. 

Independent,  wrong. 

L  omits  these  clauses 
but  T  renders  them 
complete. 

An  improbable  con- 
jecture. 

Does  not  follow  L's 
conjecture. 

H 

Ruben  shall  lyue  and 
shall  not  dye:  but 
his  people  shalbe 
few  in  numbre. 

And  vnto  Leui  he 
sayed:  thy  per- 
fectnesse  ad  thi 
light  be  after  thy 
mercifull  ma  who 
thou  temptest  at 
Masa  ad  with 
whom  thou  striu- 
edst  at  the  waters 
of  strife. 

.\nd  vnto  Joseph  he 
sayed:  blessed  of 
the  Lorde  is  his 
londe  with  the 
goodly  frutes  off 
heauen,  with  dewe 
and  with  sprynges 
that    lye     beneth : 

.\nd  with  frutes  of 
the  encrease  of  the 
Sonne  and  wyth 
rype  frute  off  the 
monethes,  and  with 
the  toppes  of 
mountaynes  that 
were  from  the  be- 
gynnynge  and  with 
the  dayntes  of 
hilles  that  last  euer 
and 

J 

Ruben  lehe  und  ster- 
be  nicht  |  und  sein 
Pobel    sey    gering. 

Und  zu  Leui  sprach 
er.  Dcin  Ruch  und 
dein  I,iecht  bleibe 
bey    deinem    hey- 
ligen    Mann  |  den 
du  versucht  hast  zu 
Massa  |  da  jr  ha- 
dertet    an    Hader- 
wasser. 

Und    zu    Joseph 
sprach   er:     Sein 
Land  ligt  im  Segen 
dess  Herrn  1 

Da  .sind  edle  FrUchte 
von  den  Sonnen  | 
und  edle  reiffe 
FrUchte  der  Mon- 
den. 

Und  von  den  hohen 
I5ergen  gegen  Mor- 
gen  1  und  von  den 
Hugeln  fur  und 
fur  1  und  edlen. 

a. 

Ruben  lyue,  and  die 
not,    and     be     he 
litel  in  noumbre. 

Also  he  seide  to 
Leuy,  Thi  perfec- 
cioun  and  thi 
techyng  is  of  an 
hooly  man,  whom 
thou  preuedist  in 
temptacioun  and 
demedist  at  the 
Watris  of  Agen- 
seiynge; 

Also  he  seide  to 
Joseph,  His  lond 
is  of  the  Lordis 
blessying;  of  the 
applis  of  heuene, 
and  of  the  dewe, 
and  of  watir  lig- 
gynge  bynethe. 

of  the  applis  of 
fruytes  of  the 
sunne  and  moone; 

of  the  coppe  of  elde 
munteyns,   and   of 
the  applis  of  euer- 
lastynge litle  hillis; 

K 

Lyue  Ruben,  and  dye 
he  not,  and  be  he 
litil  in  noumbre. 

Forsothe  to  Leuy  he 
seith,  Thi  perfec- 
cioun  and  thi  loor 
fro  thin  hooli  man, 
whom  thow  hast 
preued  in  tempta- 
cioun, and  hast 
demed  at  the  Wa- 
tris of  Agensei- 
ynge; 

Forsothe  to  Joseph 
he  seith.  Of  the 
blessynge  of  the 
Lord  the  loond  of 
hym;  of  the  applis 
of  heuene,  and  of 
the  dewe,  and  of 
the  see  underlig- 
ging;  of  applis  of 
the  fruyt  of  sunne, 
and  of  mone; 

And    of    the    cop   of 
the     oold     moun- 
teyns,  and  of  applis 
of     euerlastynge 
hillis; 

> 

Vivat  Ruben,  et  non 
moriatur,     et     sit 
parvus  in  numero. 

Levi  quoque  ait:  Per- 
fectio  tua,  et  doc- 
trina  tua  viro  sanc- 
to  tuo,  quem  pro- 
basti  in  tentatione, 
et  judicasti  ad 
aquas     Contradic- 
tionis. 

Joseph    quoque    ait: 
de    benedictione 
Domini  terra  ejus, 
de    pomis  caeli,  et 
rore,  atque  abysso 
subjacente:  de  po- 
mis fructuum  soils 
ac  lunae; 

De     vertice     anti- 
quorum   montium, 
de  pomis  collium 
aeternorum, 

i1 

t'2-^   iii'a-i,t'M     Ufnt     Hi    .3S-S 

3  N  S  1  ^S  .5  .5  1  -S  1  -g  ,1       ;-  fc  J  -g  -g  'o  1       .  ,5  ,1  1           g  -^  .3 

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Kl                    U!                                                      'jS                                           w                         -a 

« 

5 

TYNDALE's    version    of   the    PENTATEUCH 


49 


< 

a 

06 

Translates     TIT* 
again. 

Follows  V   L  whith 
do  not  strictly  ren- 
der the  Heb. 

f- 

With   goodly  frute 
of  the  erth  and  off 
the   fulnes.se   there 
of.     And  the  good 
will    of    him    that 
dwelleth     in     the 
bush    .shall     come 
vppon  the  heed  of 
Joseph  and  vppon 
the    toppe    of    the 
heed  of  him   that 
was  separated  from 
amonge  his  breth- 

His   bewtye   is  as   a 
firstborne  oxe  and 
his  homes  as   the 
homes  of  an  vny- 
corne.     And    with 
them  he  shall  push 
the   nacions   to 
gether,   euen   vnto 
the    endes    of    the 
worlde.    These 
are    the    many 
thousandesofEph 
raim  and  the  thou- 
sandes    off    Man- 

^ 

Friichten     von     der 
Erden   |    und   was 
drinnen     ist.     Die 
Grade   desz   1    der 
in    dem     Busch 
wohnete  1  komme 
auff  das  Haupt  Jo- 
seph  1   und     auff 
den  Scheytel   desz 
Nasir  unter  seinen 
Brudern. 

Seine   Herrligkeit  ist 
wie     ein     Erstge- 
borner      Ochse  1 
und   seine   Horner 
sind  wie     Einhor- 
ners  Horner.     Mit 
dcnselbigen  wirt  er 
die  Volcker  stossen 
zuhauff   1  bisz   an 
des  Landes  ende  | 
Das  sind  die  tau- 
send   Ephraim  | 
und    die    tausend 
Manasse. 

(X 

and    of    the    fruytis 
of   the    lond,   and 
of    the    fulnesse 
thereof.      The 
blessyng    of    hym 
that    apperide     in 
the     busch     come 
on    the     heed     of 
Joseph,    and    on 
the  cop  of  Nazarey 
among    his  breth- 
eren. 

As  the   first   gendrid 
of   a    bole   is    the 
feirnesse   of   hym; 
the    homes   of  an 
vnicorn     ben    the 
homes  of  hym;  in 
tho     he     schal 
wyndene    folk  is, 
til    to    the  termes 
of  erthe.    These 
ben  the  multitudis 
of     Effraym,    aud 
these  ben  the  thou- 
syndis     of    Man- 
asses. 

X 

And    of     fruytis    of 
the  erthe,   and 
plente  of  it.   Bless- 
ynge      of      hym 
that  aperyde  in  the 
busshe  come  vpon 
the    heed    of    Jo- 
seph, und  vpon  the 
fortop  of   Nazarey 
among  his   breth- 
eren. 

As  of  the  first  goten 
bool  the  feirnes  of 
hym;  homes  of  an 
vnicorn  the  homes 
of  him,  in  hem  he 
shal  wyndowe  gen- 
tilys,  vnto  the  teer- 
mes  of   the   erthe 
Thes  ben  the  mul- 
titudys  of  Effraym, 
and  thes  thou- 
sandis  of  manasse. 

> 

et  dc  frugibus  terrae, 
et    de    plenitudine 
ejus;   benedictio 
Illius,  qui  apparuit 
in     rubo,      veniat 
super     caput     Jo- 
seph, et  super  ver- 
ticcm      nazaraei 
inter   fratres  suos. 

Quasi   primogeniti 
tauri     pulchritudo 
ejus,    cornua    rhi- 
nocerotis      cornua 
illius,  in  ipsis  ven- 
tilabit  gentes  usque 
ad    terminos  Ter- 
rae; hae  sunt  mul- 
titudines  Ephraim, 
et  haec  millia 
Manasse. 

X 

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50  TYNDALE'S    VERSION   OF   THE    PENTATEUCH 


1 

< 

s 

1 

< 

In  this  corrupt   pas- 
sage we   can  only 
say    that    T     had 
his    own    guess, 
which  is  no  better 
and  no  worse  than 
the  rest. 

J  Sx 

H 

And    vnto    Gad    he 
sayed:    blessed    is 
the    rowmmaker 
Gad.     He    dwell- 
eth  as  a  Hon  and 
caught    the    arme 
ad  also  the  toppe 
nf  the  hppd. 

He  sawe  his  begyn- 
nynge,    that    a 
parte  of  the  teach- 
ers were  hyd  there 
ad    come  with  the 
hecdfs  of  the  peo- 
ple, and    e.xecuted 
the      righteousnes 
of  the    Lorde  and 
his  iudgcnicntes 
with  Israel. 

Yern  and  brasse 
shall  hange  on  thi 
showes   and  thine 
age  shalbe  as  thi 
youth. 

hJ 

Und  zu  Gad  sprach 
er:  Gad  sey  geseg- 
net     der      Raum- 
macher.    Er  ligt 
wie      ein     Louw  | 
und    raubet  den 
Arm    und     die 
Schevtel. 

Und     er    sahe    daz 
jm     ein     Haupt 
gegeben  war  |  ein 
Lehrer     der    ver- 
borgen    ist   1    wel- 
cher  kam  mit  dem 
Obersten    desz 
Volcks  1  und   ver- 
schafft  die  Gerech- 
tigkeit  desz  Herrn 
1    und        seine 

Rechte  an   Israel. 
Eysen  und    Ertz  sey 
anseinen  Schuhen 
1  Dein    Aher    sey 
wie  deine  Jugend. 

PU 

And    he    scide   to 
Gad,  Gad  is  bles- 
sid in  broodnesse; 
he    restide     as    a 
lioun,  and  he  took 
the  arm   and   the 
nol. 

And  he  sig  his  prins- 
hed,    that    the 
techere   was    kept 
in  his  part;  which 
Gad  was  with  the 
princes  of   the 
puple,    and     dide 
the  rigtfulnesses  of 
the  Lord,  and  his 
doom  with  Israel. 

Yrun  and  bras   the 
scho  of    hym;    as 
the     dr,i     of      thi 
gouth  so  and  thin 
eelde. 

W 

And    to    Gad   he 
scith,    Blessid     in 
breede    Gad,  as   a 
lioun    he    restide, 
and  he  took  arme 
and  fortop. 

And    he    saug    his 
prynsehod,  that  in 
his    paart    a   doc- 
tour   he   was   seid 
up;  the  which  was 
with     princis   of 
puple,    and     dide 
rigtwisnessesofthe 
Lord,     and     hys 
doom   with  Yrael. 

Yrun   and   bras   the 
shoynge    of     him; 
as    days     of      thi 
gougth     so    and 
thin  eelde. 

> 

Et  Gad  ait:    Bene- 
dictus  in  latitudine 
Gad;      quasi     leo 
requievit,  cepitque 
brachium  et  verti- 
cem. 

Et  vidit  principatum 
suum,      quod      in 
parte    sua    doctor 
esset  repositus,  qui 
fuit  cum  principi- 
bus  popull,  et  fecit 
justitias     Domini, 
et  judicium  suum 
cum  Israel. 

Ferrum    et    aes    cal- 
ceamentum     ejus: 
Sicut  dies  juventu- 
tis     tuae,     ita     ct 
senectus  tua 

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M 

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u 
W 

mm 

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TYNDALE's    version    of    the    PENTATEUCH  5 1 


< 

Translates  •JI'O"^ 

The  passage  puzzles 
all  the  translators. 
T    follows    L     in 
the   first    clause, 
ventures   into   the 
realm  of  independ- 
ent   conjecture    in 
the  second,  with- 
out conveying  any 
intelligible    mean- 
ing. 

Follows  V  against 
L. 

H 

There  is  none  like 
vnto  the  God  of 
the  off  Israel:  he 
that  sitteth  vppon 
hcauen  shalbc 
thine  helpe,  whose 
glorie  is  in  the 
cloudes,  that  is  the 
dwellingc  place  of 
God  from  the  be- 
gynnyngc  and  from 
vnder  the  armes 
of  the  worlde:  he 
hath  cast  out  thine 
enemies  before  the 
and  sayed:  de- 
stroye. 

And  Israel  shall 
dwell  in  safletye 
alone.  And  the 
eye.s  of  lacob  shall 
loke  appon  a 
londe  of  corne  and 
wyne,  morcouer 
his  heaucn  shall 
dropjjc  with  dewe. 

J 

Es    ist   kein    Gott 
als  dcr   Gott    de.sz 
Gercchtcn     der  in 
Himmel  sitzt  |  dcr 
sey    dcinc    HtilfTe 
1  und    desz    Herr- 
ligkcit  in  VVolcken 
ist  1  Das     ist    die 
Wohnung  Gottes 
von    an  fang  |  und 
untcr   den   Armen 
cwiKlich. 

Und    cr    wirt    fur 
dir    her     deinen 
Fcindt  ausztrciben 
1  und      sagen  1   : 
Sey  vcrtilgct. 

Israel   wirt   sichcr 
allein     wohnen 
Dcr  Brunn    Jacob 
wirt  sevn  auff  dem 
Lande    da   Korn 
und     Most     ist  | 
dazu  sein  Himmel 
wirt     mit    Thaw 
tricffcn. 

CU 

Noon  other  god  is 
as  the  God  of  the 
most  rigtful;  the 
stiere  of  heuene, 
thin  hclpere, 
cloudis  rennen 
aboute  bi  the  glorie 
of  hym.  His 
dwellynge  place 
is  aboue,  and 
armjes  cuerlast- 
ynge ben  bynethe; 
he  schal  caste  out 
fro  thi  face  the 
enemy,  and  he 
schal  scic.  Be  thou 
al  to-brokun. 

Israel  schal  dwelle 
trestele  and  aloone; 
the  ige  of  Jacob 
in  the  lond  of 
whete,  and  of 
wyn;  and  heuencs 
schulen  be  dcrk 
with  deu. 

K 

There  is  noon  other 
god  as  the  moost 
rigt  God;  the  stier 
of  heucn  thin 
helper,  thurg  the 
hidows  doynge  of 
hym  to  and  fro  ren- 
nen the  clowdes. 
The  dwellynge 
place  of  hym 
abouc,  and  vnder- 
nethe  cuerlastynge 
armys;  he  shal 
cast  out  fro  tlii 
face  the  enemy, 
and  he  shall  seye 
Be  thou   to  trode. 

Yrael  shal  dwelle 
trustllych,  and 
aloone;  the  eye  of 
Jacob  in  the  lond 
of  whcte,  and  of 
wyn;  and  heuens 
schulen  wexe  dcrk 
thurg  dewe. 

> 

.Non  est  Deus  alius, 
ut  Deus  rectissimi; 
ascensor  caeli  aux- 
iliator  tuus.    Mag- 
nificentia  ejus  dis- 
currunt  nubes, 
habitaculum     ejus 
sursum,   et   subter 
brachia     sempi- 
terna;     ejiciet  a 
facie  tua  inimicum, 
dicetque:      Con- 
tercre. 

Haliitabit  Israel  con- 
tidenter.  et    solus. 
Oculus    Jacob    in 
terra    frumenti    et 
vini,  caclique  cali- 
gabunt  rore. 

X 

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5 

52  TYNDALE'S    version   of   the    PENTATEUCH 

From  such  comparisons,  carried  through  the  Pentateuch,  we  discover: 
(i)  that  Tyndale  did  not  make  a  Hteral,  unaided  version  from  the  Hebrew, 
as  if  no  other  translation  existed;  (2)  that  he  did  not  modernize  and  revise 
the  work  of  Nicholas  de  Hereford  and  John  Purvey;  (3)  that  he  did  not 
make  a  translation  from  the  Vulgate  and  then  revise  it  by  comparison  with 
the  Hebrew  and  Luther's  version. 

I.  If  Tyndale  had  confined  himself  to  the  Hebrew,  referring  only 
occasionally  to  the  Vulgate  or  Luther  for  help  on  obscure  passages,  we 
should  expect  only  occasional  coincidences  of  phraseology  and  interpre- 
tation with  those  versions,  and  these  in  places  where  some  special  reason 
for  difficulty  existed.  But  this  is  not  the  condition  shown  by  the  parallel 
versions.  In  simple  narrative  prose  there  is  little  room  for  alternative 
renderings,  hence  examples  taken  from  such  material  yield  negative  results: 
if  Tyndale  in  such  chapters  follows  V  and  L  closely,  it  is  simply  because 
they  in  turn  follow  the  Hebrew  closely,  and  no  one  can  say  in  any  given 
verse  which  text  lay  before  Tyndale's  eyes  when  he  wrote  his  translation 
of  it.  But  coincidences  in  such  passages  as  the  three  poetic  chapters 
quoted  afford  positive  evidence  of  borrowing,  not  only  in  the  difficult,  but 
in  the  easy  verses.  A  Hebrew  sentence  in  the  poetic  style,  even  though  not 
obscure,  may  be  translated  with  many  more  chances  of  variety  than  a 
prose  sentence;  and  a  large  proportion  of  agreements  with  Luther  here 
cannot  be  accidental. 

But  the  comparison  of  the  versions,  even  in  the  few  passages  presented 
in  the  preceding  pages,  establishes  beyond  any  question  what  has  some- 
times been  seriously  denied — that  Tyndale  did  use  the  Hebrew  in  his 
Pentateuch.  The  cases  where  he,  against  all  the  versions,  renders  the 
Hebrew  literally  are  not  numerous,  but  they  are  incontrovertible.  Evi- 
dence of  Tyndale's  acquaintance  with  Hebrew,  drawn  from  his  own  auto- 
biographical references  in  his  writings,  and  in  the  glossaries  of  proper 
names  attached  to  the  books  of  the  Pentateuch,  may  be  held  by  some 
judges  not  conclusive  as  to  anything  more  than  a  smattering  of  the  lan- 
guage. But  these  cases  of  independent  correct  rendering  from  the  Hebrew 
imply  thorough  study. 

It  is  to  be  noted  that  Tyndale  learned,  either  from  Luther's  version  or 
from  his  own  study,  much  of  the  correct  syntax  of  dependent  clauses 
introduced  by  Waw.  He  translates  many  of  these  more  in  accordance 
with  the  correct  principles  of  rendering  Semitic  idiom  into  English  than 
our  Engh'sh  translators  of  later  times  have  shown.  He  is  generally  right 
in  his  treatment  of  the  Hebrew  tenses,  abandoning  the  slavish  literalness 


TVNDALE'S    version    of    the    PENTATEUCH  53 

of  the  Septuagint  and  Vulgate;'  though  here  again  one  must  often  admit 
his  indebtedness  to  Luther.  In  common  with  the  ancient  versions  and 
with  Luther,  he  sometimes  ignores  the  construct  as  shown  by  the  pointing 
and  the  absence  of  the  article,  which  seems  a  rather  serious  fault  in  a  trans- 
lator. One  characteristic  difference  from  Luther  is  that  he  retains  certain 
Hebrew  idioms  which  lend  themselves  well  to  rhythms  of  English  style; 
for  example,  where  the  Hebrew  would  say  "sacrifices  of  righteousness," 
Luther  would  make  it  perhaps  "righteous  sacrifices,"  but  Tyndale  would 
keep  the  construct  with  the  abstract  noun.  One  might  trace  this  idiom 
from  Tyndale's  Pentateuch  down  through  the  later  translators  of  the  Old 
Testament  into  its  many  ramifications  in  English  prose  style. 

Tyndale  is  too  honest  to  slip  out  of  a  difficulty  by  a  vague  paraphrase, 
as  Luther  did.  Examples  of  this  are  found  in  the  chapters  quoted.  In 
few  cases  did  Tyndale  possess  the  scholarship  to  hit  on  the  correct  clue  to 
a  puzzle  due  to  corrupt  text  or  a  hapax  legomenon;  but  he  at  least  has  the 
courage  to  abandon  Luther  when  the  German  translator  merely  blinked 
the  difficulty.  Sometimes  he  prefers  in  such  cases  to  cling  to  the  time- 
honored  rendering  of  Jerome;  sometimes  he  offers  his  own  conjecture, 
which  is  often  wrong.  There  is  at  least  a  measure  of  independence  in  this 
attitude. 

Tyndale  was  a  much  better  scholar  in  Greek  than  in  Hebrew,  and  we 
should  therefore  expect  extensive  use  of  the  Septuagint.  There  are  suffi- 
cient data  to  prove  that  he  consulted  it  constantly;  but,  after  all,  it  afforded 
him  comparatively  little  assistance,  because  the  chief  value  of  this  version — 
as  a  guide  in  textual  emendation — was  unknown  in  Tyndale's  day.  There 
is  no  evidence  in  Tyndale's  Pentateuch,  so  far  as  the  present  writer  has 
discovered,  that  he  ventured  a  single  emendation  of  the  Masoretic  text  on 
textual  grounds.^ 

2.  As  to  the  use  made  of  the  Wicliiite  versions,  Tyndale's  own  declara- 
tion that  he  derived  no  aid  from  them  is  on  the  whole  supported  by  the 
comparison.  Both  Hereford's  and  Purvey's  versions  are  not  only  Middle 
English,  thoroughly  obsolete  in  1529,  but  they  are  very  crabbed  and  unidio- 

I  This  knowledge  he  used  in  his  translation  of  the  New  Testament  Greek. 
"If  ought  seme  chaunged,  or  not  alto  gether  agreyng  with  the  Greke,  let  the  finder  of 
the  faute  cosider  the  Hebrue  phrase,  or  maner  of  speache  left  in  the  Greke  wordes. 
Whose  preterperfectence  and  presentence  is  of  both  one,  and  the  futurtence  is  the 
optative  mode  also,  and  the  futurtence  is  of  the  imperative  mode  in  the  active  voyce 
and  in  the  passive  ever.  Like  wise  person  for  person,  nombre  for  nobre,  and  inter- 
rogative for  a  condicionall  and  suchc  lyke  is  with  the  Hebrues  a  comon  usage." 
("  Preface  to  N.  T.,  William  Tindale  unto  the  Christian  Reader.") 

»  See,  for  example,  Gen.  49:19. 


54  TYNDALE'S   VERSION   OF   THE    PENTATEUCH 

matic  Middle  English,  because  copied  bodily,  and  often  unintelligently, 
from  the  Vulgate.  The  case  is  far  different  from  that  of  Wiclif's  own 
version  of  the  New  Testament,  connection  between  which  and  Tyndale's 
New  Testament  is  much  closer,  as  has  been  shown  by  writers  on  that  sub- 
ject. Where  we  find  coincidences  of  phrase  between  Tyndale's  Pentateuch 
and  the  two  fourteenth-century  versions,  we  can  usually  trace  them  to  the 
common  Latin  source.  Occasionally  a  combination  of  words  occurs 
which  cannot  be  referred  to  such  a  source,  and  we  are  led  to  surmise  that 
Tyndale's  recollection  of  versions  doubtless  familiar  to  him  in  early  life 
influenced  hipi  in  the  choice  of  a  phrase;  but  these  instances  are  not  suffi- 
ciently numerous  to  estabUsh  any  presumption  that  he  had  a  manuscript 
of  either  version  before  him  in  Germany. 

3.  Nothing  is  made  clearer  by  the  comparison  than  that  the  Vulgate 
was  not  Tyndale's  basis  in  his  work.  He  was  fond  of  saying  that  Hebrew 
was  much  more  like  English  than  it  was  Hke  Latin ;  and,  indeed,  he  showed 
in  many  Httle  ways  that  he  had  no  love  for  the  official  ecclesiastical  version. 
If  he  had  worked  directly  and  primarily  from  it,  he  could  not  have  avoided 
many  Latin  idioms,  especially  in  the  syntax,  which  are  absent  from  his 
translation.  While  no  doubt  influenced  by  the  Vulgate  in  the  choice  of 
words,  such  as  "create,"  "firmament,"  and  many  more,  it  is  most  certainly 
not  the  text  from  which  he  directly  translated. 

The  conclusion  at  which  we  arrive,  therefore,  by  the  process  of  exclu- 
sion, is  that  Tyndale  in  translating  his  Pentateuch  kept  constantly  before 
him  the  Hebrew  text  and  Luther's  version,  with  the  Septuagint  and  Vul- 
gate within  easy  reach,  and  fragments  of  the  Middle  EngUsh  archaisms 
running  through  his  mind  as  he  worked;  that  he  probably  made  his  first 
draft  from  the  German,  checking  it  constantly  by  the  Hebrew,  and  departing 
from  it  in  nearly  every  case  where  he  detected  Luther  in  an  evasion;  that 
he  carried  into  this  work  the  same  principle  already  established  in  his  New 
Testament,  of  making  an  idiomatic  EngHsh  work  in  the  language  of  the 
common  people  rather  than  of  the  learned;  transferring  such  Semitic 
idioms  as  approved  themselves  to  him  as  easily  understood  and  more 
vigorous  than  paraphrase. 

It  has  been  pointed  out,  in  the  earlier  part  of  this  paper,  that  the 
unhappy  fate  by  which  Tyndale's  Old  Testament  was  cut  off  so  near  the 
beginning  should  not  detract  from  the  honor  due  to  him  as  the  father  of 
Hebrew  scholarship  among  EngHshmen,  and  the  author  of  the  first  version 
in  English  made  from  the  Hebrew.  To  attempt  to  estimate  his  influence 
on  the  style  of  the  men  who  completed  the  Old  Testament  after  his  death 
would  lead  us  too  far  into  the  realm  of  conjecture.     It  will  suffice  to  insist 


TVNDALE'S    version    of   the    PENTATEUCH  55 

that  in  the  year  1529  there  were  many  different  ways  of  translating  the  five 
books  of  Moses,  any  one  of  which  might  have  been  adopted  by  an  English- 
man with  Tyndale's  equipment;  many  styles,  most  of  which  would  have 
been  Latinized,  cumbrous,  and  periphrastic;  and  that  of  all  these  the  one 
which  we  find  in  our  Bible  today  is  the  style  of  Tyndale,  which  no  English- 
man had  used  before  him.  Whether  one  should  call  this  a  case  of  direct 
literary  lineage,  or  should  rather  refer  it  to  widely  diffused  linguistic  influ- 
ences which  brought  about  a  great  change  between  the  beginning  and  the 
middle  of  the  sixteenth  century,  is  a  matter  of  opinion.  If  we  bring  into 
our  field  of  view  at  this  point  Tyndale's  New  Testament,  the  popularity  and 
influence  of  which  were  so  much  greater,  there  can  remain  no  doubt  that 
the  martyr  of  Vilvorde  deserves  the  pre-eminent  rank  so  often  accorded  to 
Coverdale  and  the  bishops  who  entered  into  the  reward  of  his  heroic  labors. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY 

Mombert,  J.  I.     William  Tyndale's  Five  Books  of  Moses  Called  the  Pentateuch. 

1884. 
Forshall,  Josiah,  and  Madden,  Sir  Frederic.     The  Holy  Bible  in  the  pMrliest 

English  Versions  Made  front  the  Latin  Vulgate  by  John  Wickliffe  and  His 

Followers.     1850. 
Coverdale,  Myles.     Biblia,  The  Bible,  that  is  the  holy  Scripture  of  the  Olde  and 

New  Testament,  faithfully  and  truly  translated  out  of  Douche  and  Latin  in 

to  English.     1535. 
Tyndale,  William.     The  Newe  Testament.     1549. 
Tyndale,  William.     New  Testament,  facsimile  pf  the.  edition  of  1525,  by  Francis 

Fry.     1862. 
Tyndale,  William.     Works.     Parker  Society  Edition.     1850. 

An  Answer  to  Sir  Thonms  Mare's  Dialogue;    The  Supper  of  the  Lord;   Wm. 

Tracy's  Testament  Expounded.     1850. 
The  Obedience  of  a  Christian  Man;  Parable  of  the  Wicked  Mammon.     1850. 
Expositions  and  Notes;   The  Practice  of  Prelates.     1850. 
Tyndale,  William.     Various  Tracts  and  Extracts,  in  The  "Fathers  of  the  English 

Church,"  Vol.  I.     1807. 
Tyndale,  William.     Writings  of  Tindal,  Frith,  and  Barnes.     No  date. 
Luther,  Martin.     Die  Heilige  Schrift,  etc.     Frankfort,  1583. 
The  Vulgate:   Biblia  Sacra.     Venire.  1478. 
Walton,  B.     Biblia  Polyglotta.     London,  1657. 


Anderson,   Christopher.     Annals  of  the  English  Bible.     Second  edition,    1862. 

With  bibliography  of  si.xteenth-centur)-  Bibles  in  appendix. 
Athemeum,  1885,  pp.  scoff.,  562  ff.:   Review  of  Demaus'  William  Tyndale;  A 

Biography. 


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56  TYNDALE'S   version   of  the   PENTATEUCH 

Buchwald,  Georg.     Doktor  Martin  Luther.     1902. 

Demaus,  R.     William  Tyndale:   A  Biography.     187 1. 

Dictionary  of  National  Biography:  Edward  In'ing  Carlyle,  "Life  of  Tyndale," 
Vol.  LVII,  424. 

Eadie,  John.     The  English  Bible.     1876. 

Foxe,  John.  Actes  and  Monuments  of  matters  most  speciall  and  memorable, 
happenyng  in  the  Church,  with  an  Vniuersall  history  of  the  same,  wherein 
is  set  forth  at  large  the  whole  race  and  course  of  the  Church,  from  the  primi- 
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London,  1583. 

Geiger,  L.  Das  Studium  der  hebrdischen  Sprache  in  Deutschland  vom  Ende 
des  i§ten  bis  zur  Mitte  des  i6ten  Jahrhunderts.     187 1. 

Hoare,  H.  W.     The  Evolution  of  the  English  Bible.     1901. 

Moulton,  W.  F.     The  History  of  the  English  Bible.     1878. 

Pattison,  T.  Harwood.     The  History  of  the  English  Bible.     1894. 

Stoughton,  John.     Our  English  Bible.     1878. 

Walter,  Henry.     Letters  to  Marsh,  Bishop  of  Peterborough.     1823. 

Westcott,  B.  F.     History  of  the  English  Bible.     1868. 

Whittaker,  John  W.  An  Historical  and  Critical  Enquiry  into  the  Interpretation 
of  the  Hebrew  Scriptures.     1819. 


Date  Due 

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PRINTED 

IN  U.  S.  A. 

